Snowblind
by Jason Marten
Summary: The 90's have just ended. Robert is a 25 year old that has just gotten his life together, somewhat. He has a stable job with many employment opportunities. After surviving a work related accident that gets him fired, he spontaneously adopts the Glaceon, named Christine that saved his life. Or did she adopt him? - Story is AU. Rated T for now.
1. Act 1 - Part 1

Welcome everyone, to this story an epic adventure. My name is Jason and this is my first time trying to write something that not for school or work or whatever. I'm just writing because I can. This story is not about me, I'm not even in it! It's about some other dude and his about as close to real life as I can make it Pokemon adventure. I believe this is what the world might be like if Pokemon were real so read on and review if you feel like it.

* * *

The Shortest Straw

January 18, 2000 8:32 pm

* * *

I looked up at the clock. The time looked to be about 8:30pm. That's when Tim entered the room from his office located on the other side of the counter.

"What do you have for me tonight Tim?" I asked.

"Well Robert, it's a bulldozer. I was originally going to have you take it all the way up to Circle. But with the storm being as close as it is. I decided that you only need to go as far as Central." Tim said as he pointed to a map on a nearby wall.

"Storm? What storm?" I asked slightly annoyed that I was not told that I would be driving in to a storm when Tim contacted me on the Citizens' Band radio earlier this evening.

"Well, a big snow storm came off the Beaufort Sea and is headed south towards Fairbanks. I received reports that parts of the Dalton Highway are shut down." Tim said as he took a seat behind the counter.

"Well it looks like those Carlile boys won't be making there dough tonight." I said as we both laughed. "Well I better be on my way then, I don't want to get snowed in up there." I said as I made my way towards the door.

"Hey! Master of reality, Take this." Tim gave me a mallet. "You might want to master the reality of that trailer not being moved all season." Tim said as he laughed again. He noticed the shirt I was wearing. It was a black T-shirt with the Master of Reality logo on it from Black Sabbath's 1971 album.

I put on my hat and coat and headed out the door. Looking at the thermometer hanging outside the door it read -37 degrees Fahrenheit. It was getting colder, and fast. It was already night time, making the walk back to my cab difficult.

After almost slipping on ice a few times I make it to the door of company owned 1997 Freightliner Condo. The truck is white with a blue stripe going all the way around it and the Tim's Trucking logo on the door. This is the cab I have been assigned to this season. After all the profit I helped him earn last season he had some left over to purchase two newer cabs at a slightly used price.

I open the door and climbed inside. I went to the back part of the cab also known as the sleeper, where I had been resting and getting ready to turn in for the night after my last run before being assigned this new task. I grabbed my work gloves off the shelf that also had stuff on it like a pack of disposable razors and a can of shaving cream, a roll of paper towels and a few rolls of toilet paper and a shopping bag of snacks because you can never be over prepared for the dangers out here. I sat in the driver seat and closed the door.

With the diesel engine already running I flicked on the lights. Now that I could see where I was going, I pushed in the yellow parking brake knob and shifted the gear out of neutral and pulled out of my spot. Driving around the yard I spotted a drop-deck flatbed trailer and on top of it was a small Caterpillar bulldozer. It was going to be used for snow removal from the main road and isolated towns after the storm.

I shifted in to reverse and looked in my mirrors to make sure I was lined up with the trailer. Slowly backing up I felt the movement of my cab come to a jarring halt from my 5th wheel making contact with the trailer hitch. I put the truck in neutral and pulled the parking knob and the brakes let out a slight hissing noise. I took my work gloves off the dash board and put them on.

After climbing down from the cab I made my way to the hitch, I pushed in the lever making sure my 5th wheel was locked on to the hitch and then I connected the air and electrical lines. Upon inspection of the trailer I found that the lights are working and the chains that are holding the bulldozer to the trailer are secure. But there was ice and snow freezing the brake pads to the drum.

I want back to the cab and grabbed the mallet that Tim gave me and got on my back and worked my way under the trailer. I started whacking away at the drums and after a few hits the snow and ice came falling from the brake pads. After several minutes of hitting the drums I finally got all six of them free.

I climbed out from under the back of the trailer and dusted off the back of my coat. I was starting to feel the cold on my face by now so I wasted no time cranking up the landing gear and getting back to the cab.

I close the door and turn the heater up to full blast. I remove my gloves and my jacket and tossed them on to the small bed behind me. After pushing the parking break and the trailer air supply knobs I looked at the mirrors as I pulled forward to see that the trailers wheels are rolling. I headed towards the exit of the yard.

I notice as another driver, Danny, was pulling in to the yard to seek cover from the approaching storm. I gave a quick honk of the air horn and a wave and then I pulled out on to the road.

* * *

Highway to Hell

January 18, 2000 9:07 pm

* * *

It was around 9pm when I turned on to Alaska state route 2 north bound AKA Steese Highway. It was nice and smooth and I was going about 55mph and the best part was since the news about the storm was going around I had both lanes to myself. Going south bound in to Fairbanks there was a steady flow of traffic trying to escape the north and seek cover in the city.

After 7 minutes of travel the road narrows down to two lanes and there is no more passing lane and no longer a concrete barrier between me and oncoming traffic it is now just a solid double yellow line. Sometimes in some places a single dashed yellow line indicating that you can move over to pass someone if you are sure there is no oncoming traffic. Tonight was not one of those nights, I had to stay on my side of the road.

Slowing down to 45mph I turned on my CB radio to try and get some news on the storm. It sounded like three truckers from Carlile were talking as they were convoying back to Fairbanks.

("-" Indicates intrusive radio static.)

Trucker Y: "I couldn't see anything but the road markers and your tail lights."

Trucker X: "Well that's how it is out here, one minute you see the road and the next-"

Trucker Z: "Ya, I almost went in to the ditch for a second."

Trucker X: "I heard that a lot of people are stuck up in Coldfoot for - night."

Trucker Y: "Is that one of Tim's boys headed north bound?"

Trucker Z: "Looks like it."

Trucker X: "Hey, Timmy, you got your radio on?"

Rob: "Tim's boy" Said with the maximum amount of sarcasm legally allowable. "Rob here, go ahead."

Trucker X: "I see you are making a last minute delivery, where are you going?"

Rob: "I'm going to Central."

Trucker Y: "That's route 6."

Trucker X: "I don't know - conditions up that way."

Trucker Z: "He's going to get caught in the storm and be stranded up there."

Trucker X: "Well Rob - stuck - off the road."

Rob: "Repeat, I didn't copy."

Trucker X: "D-d-ae-e- "

Trucker Z: "He said don't - yourself killed"

Rob: "Copy that."

I was now out of there CB range because we were going in opposite directions. It didn't take long to reach the small town of Fox. I saw the sign for AK route 6 north and I slowed down and got in the turn lane. Now on route 6 I saw a sign that read Chatanika 17 mi, Central 118mi, and Circle 152mi. well I got 118 miles to go.

Now that I was off the main trucking route my CB fell silent with the occasional static here and there. I turned it off as it was of no use to me now, I was on my own. The road was still clear with a few oncoming cars and pickups but for the most part the drive was nice and smooth, a calm before the storm I guess.

About an hour later I passed mile marker 59. I was still driving on paved road and I could see the center line in my headlights but it was faded and the asphalt was getting rough from years of being beaten on by trucks like mine.

By this time the cloud accumulation was to the point to where there was no longer moon light and all I could see was what my headlights wanted me to see. I flicked in my high beams to see that the road ahead of me dipped down and back up again so I pushed down on the clutch and adjusted my gear accordingly.

Once I rounded the top of the hill the road went down and back up again but this time jogging to the left then back to the right. Shortly after seeing the sign for mile 60 reflecting in my lights that's when it happened.

A single snow flake hit my windshield. It was soon accompanied by many others. With a light snow fall I could still see where I was going. A few miles later I passed a yellow diamond sign that said PAVEMENT ENDS and shortly after I passed it I felt a bump and heard the sound of my tires hitting compacted snow and I slowed down to 35 mph.

I wanted to keep my speed up so I may have a chance at beating the storm before it got any worse. The clock on my radio read 10:43pm and by this time the snow was making it difficult to see more then 10ft in front of me.

On the Dalton Highway they had reflector poles on the side of the road to help motorists see the road, all I had were tire tracks and the difference between compacted snow and the high snow bank that lay along both sides of the road from being pushed aside by bulldozers like the one I was hauling.

* * *

Looking Back

January 18, 2000 11:05 pm

* * *

It seems like driving in intense conditions like this gives you a change to think about things. Like who you are and why you're here.

Well my full name is Robert Hennery Laine (its pronounced Lane). I am 25 years old and weigh around 130lbs and stand at a height of 5ft 8in. I have blue eyes and short brown hair and pale white skin. I don't regular work out but my job, among other things keep me in fairly good physical shape.

I am a high school dropout. I dropped out my senior year to become a full time truck driver in the continental United States. And while the money was enough to get by, I was told "If you want to make real money than go to Alaska" and so did, and I got last year's pay to show it.

I applied for Carlile, but they said that I was inexperienced as an extreme conditions trucker. So that's why I don't drive the haul road all the way up to Deadhorse. But I was employed by a smaller company named Tim's Trucking. The company is owned by Tim Bandar. He has been in business since 1983. With a staff of about 10 people. We move cargo to small local towns near Fairbanks. This will be my second year working there.

I'm originally from Erie, Pennsylvania but due to one of my ex-girlfriends trying to kill me while at the same threating to take her own life was a good enough reason for me to move out of my parents' house a get a place of my own far away from there. And far away from the crazy she-beast. I think she is locked up in a mental hospital now.

I now live in Raleigh, North Carolina. When I'm not working I like to hang out with my friends and drink beer. But when it comes to earning my pay I will do whatever it takes to get the job done. I guess I inherited my passion for work from my father, who like me is a truck driver himself. But unlike him I am not dedicated to a single company.

I take whatever work I can find and if I like it I will return for more. That's why I'm in Alaska, the pay is great but the risk is high. Unlike the lower states most of the towns in Alaska only have about 100 people or so living in them and most of the roads up here are made of dirt and gravel and are snow covered in the winter, just like the one I am driving on right now.

* * *

Beyond Hell

January 18, 2000 11:37 pm

* * *

"Fuck." I said out loud as I looked at the engine temperature gauge. The temperature was dropping and if the engine gets to cold it will stall out. I had to pull over and find the source of the problem.

Luckily for me the snow fall had slowed down greatly. And I could see the full range of my headlights. I found a nice flat area on the road at the bottom of a slight grade. I put on my 4-way flashers and pulled as far right as I could without getting stuck in the snow bank. Putting the truck in neutral and pulling the yellow parking brake knob sticking out of the middle of my dashboard, I reached for my coat and gloves and opened the door.

It was nasty outside. It was dark and cold and the wind was blowing through the valley. It felt to be around -50 degrees Fahrenheit. I pulled out my flashlight and walked to the front of the hood, the source of my problem was quickly spotted.

A hook holding a yellow insulated tarp over the grill of the truck came loose and the tarp was dangling down by the bumper letting high amounts of cold air under the hood. I grabbed the hook and remounted the tarp over the grill. Simple solution to a simple problem.

I also took this opportunity to check on my load. I made my way back to the trailer to notice some snow had accumulated on the bottom of the bulldozers plow and on the bottom of the front window on the hood.

I put my hand on each of the chains that were securing the bulldozer to the trailer to make sure they were all still tight. The chains were extremely cold but were holding on tight. Looked at the taillights, all of them were working.

I made my way swiftly back to the cab and climbed back inside to be greeted by the warmth. Closing the door I unzipped my jacket and took off my gloves and threw them on the passenger seat.

I pushed the parking brake knob in and shifted back in the driving gears. As I started getting back towards the center of the road I took off the 4-way hazard lights.

Hell is often depicted as a world filled with fire and flames. By now I would welcome a world of fire, anything to escape this frozen wasteland. Imagine that you went to hell and instead of fire you were greeted with a frozen nothingness. No one around to hear your screams for help, all you have around you is endless miles of forest. No shelter from the cold.

If my truck stops working I will lose the heater that is keeping me warm. They will find me wrapped up in a blanket frozen to death. Or I could wander in to the forest to be hunted down by some wild animals. Those are my only options out here.

Having cross the bridge over Willow Creek not too far back I knew that I had to drive about 30 more miles. I pressed on keeping my speed around 35mph.

* * *

Pressing On

January 19, 2000 12:24 am

* * *

Only 5 more miles I keep telling myself. By now there was a dense ice fog in the air accompanied by the rapidly falling snow. The wind was blowing strong, sending blowing snow across the road surface and catching the bulldozer and the top of the cab and throwing my truck all over the road. With this and the fog it was hard to see past my hood.

I flicked on the high beams and all it did was make the wall of fog in front of me brighter, almost blinding me so I flicked them off. My wipers were going at full speed to keep the snow from accumulating on the windshield. About a mile later I hit a strong bump that sent snow flying up over my hood. I jerked the wheel and moved the truck back to the center of the narrow road.

I keep hitting these mounds of snow that had blown on the road ever couple hundred feet or so. I passed a school zone sign so I know that this nightmare was almost over. I would need to find a place to stay for a few days as the road was cleared using the bulldozer I was bringing. I exited the school zone and to my left I could see the lights of houses between the trees.

I passed the post office on my right and then I hit another bump this one a lot stronger than the other ones. The truck pulled sharply to the right and the tires went off the road and in to small ditch. I couldn't get the wheel to go to the left, it quickly pulled the trailer in to the ditch. There was a sharp upwards bump that sent the front of the truck a few feet off the ground along with the sound of wood cracking. I was thrown in to the air from my seat. And at that instant I put my arms over my head and closed my eyes. Before I could make my way down to my seat the truck impacted a large object in its path. The last thing I remember was being sent forward and the sounds of shattering glass and the crunching of metal. I should have been wearing my seat belt.


	2. Act 1 - Part 2

A Different View

January 19, 2000 12:24 am

* * *

I'm outside tonight night as I often am. My folks think I'm protecting them, but the entire time I have been living here there has never been any real danger. There might be an occasional wolf that wonders around out here. I just tackle it and it gets up and runs away. I didn't want to kill it, there is no need for it. There are already enough reports going around the world of Pokemon killing defenseless animals with their powers.

It's windy and there is a fog being created by the storm tonight also the intense snow fall isn't helping. I am lying on a porch with a roof over my head so I am not getting snowed on. I have a nice view down the driveway so I could see if there were any intruders on the property, like I said before I consider myself to be a bit of a guard.

Ever since I evolved in to a Glaceon the extreme temperature of this place during the winter doesn't seem bother me. Hell even when I was an Eevee I liked playing in the snow. My first owner was a bit of a fool, always looking to have a good time, so I have learned how to enjoy some of the simple things around me.

I was born in Anchorage. I'm one of two sisters and I also have a brother. But they were sold to trainers down in the lower part of the country long ago. We were all evolved at an early age. My sister became an Espeon and my brother became an Umbreon. My father is a Jolteon and my mother is an Eevee. They still live in Anchorage with Carl, my first owner.

I was bought by this family three years ago because there son, Brian. He was going to become a trainer but instead he graduated high school with honors and went to Canada to study law to become a lawyer. I became a house pet for his ageing parents.

Because of a legal diffrences between Canada and the United States I couldn't move my residence to Canada. The restriction was put in place back in 1991 and it basically states the following. If a Pokemon is registered to a citizen of the United States then that Pokemon may not be re-registered in Canada. This restriction is a bit dumb, but Canada is a non-battle country. It also has a cap on the amount of Pokemon that are allowed in the registry. These stricter laws governing ownership and breeding and importing is the reason why Canada doesn't have most of the problems that plague the United States when it comes to Pokemon.

When Brian was around he taught me the English language and some stuff about North American pokemon law that he thought I should know, including the reason for why I was not allowed to relocate with him and had to stay with his parents. Even though I know English I will still use my native language at times, mainly when talking to other Pokemon.

My current owners are getting old and I am still young and they say that I have a lot to live for. Their solution is to put me up for adoption and retire to some place warm, like Florida. They don't want me to waste my time in Florida, it being one of the states where pokemon are not allowed to battle, but is battling all there is to live for? I was told that it would be for the best that I belong to someone young and adventurous.

Living in a town with only a hundred or so people, most of them know who I am. During the day when I am not at home I am often seen walking around town. Sometimes I will go over to Nathan's house. Nathan is the only major trainer in town. He has an all eeveelution team. I have learned most of my fighting moves from them. In spite of them being more powerful than I am, I'm accepted like family among them. I will admit it's boring as hell here, But at least its peaceful.

A snow flake hit my nose, I licked it off. I could hear an approaching truck in the distance and thought nothing of it. I just looked down the driveway and waited to see the orange lights of the truck streak on by.

But then I heard a loud thumping sound accompanied by the squeaking of springs. I could see the orange lights and the glow the headlights made in the fog though the trees. It took out the mail box as it ramped up the embankment that was on the side of the driveway.

The cab sailed over the driveway and  
over the yard that was on the other side as it cleared the downward slope, all this and the trailers tires never left the ground. Before the front wheels could make contact with the ground it slammed in to the big pine tree that was in our yard next to the road. The hood of the truck crumpled as the truck pushed on to the tree. The force of the trailer made the back of the cab lift up as the front touched down. It was one of the worst noises I have ever heard, the crunching metal along with the shattering of glass.

Just then I saw a shadowy figure get ejected from the cabin of the truck and thrown past the tree as the rear of the cab hit the ground and the back of the trailer blocked the driveway. A light turned on inside the house. I knew that either Johnson or Margret was woken up by the thunderous noise. Knowing that they would be outside in a few seconds I felt no need to go alert them.

I made my way off the porch and in to the yard. The snow was as high as my belly so walking is a bit difficult but managed to get close to the wreck. The engine was no longer running, and after taking a good look at the right fuel tank, it was hanging by one bracket and it was dented but not broken. I was relieved to know it was not going to explode.

But I was curious about something else. I walked around the tree and lying in the snow, about 50ft from the crash face down with their hands up over there head was the driver. I saw Johnson approaching the wreck in inspect it.

"Over here!" I called out.

Johnson was a strong old man he and his wife were in their 50s. He lifted the unconscious man out of the snow and took him inside the house. I followed him back in to the house. Margret was already on the phone with the town's only doctor.

"The doctor will be here in a few minutes." Margret said as she hung up the phone. Being from a small town the doctor was always on call for emergency situations.

* * *

Coming Back to Life

? ?, ? ?:?

* * *

Hi, my name is Rob! And this is Skateboard Mayhem! My friend, Jamal is going to drive his car as I grab on to this rope that is tied to the bumper and speed down this road on the skateboard. As you can see I am wearing a Bidoof costume and Aaron is going to be driving that pickup truck behind me while Jack shoots at me with his paint ball gun.

I soon fell off the skateboard and as I ate the pavement (metaphorically speaking) I could feel pain again. Wait a second this pain is real. And it hurts! And this is not my Bidoof costume! And this is not my original concept for a wacky television show! What the fuck is going on here!

My eyes shot open. There was no light, it was dark. My head hurt and everything was spinning. My arms were in pain. It felt like I got stabbed with a thousand knives. For some reason I couldn't move my left wrist. It might be broken.

That's when my memories of the crash returned to me, but I didn't know where I was or what day it was. I was in a pitch black room, my shirt and pants have been removed and I was in my boxers. I was in a bed under some covers. I was glad to be away from the cold outside. But was I alone in that room was the real question, under the covers near my right arm was an unknown source of heat. I moved my arm and felt something furry.

It moved a little when I touched it with my hand; I quickly brought my arm back to my side. There was more movement, I was scared I felt whatever it was bump into my arm as it made its way slowly to the top of the covers. I couldn't see anything so I had no idea what it was, it could kill me if it wanted to.

I felt the covers rise to my right and go back down, whatever it is now right next to me. It got close to my face and I could feel its breathing. But then it backed off. There was a yawn followed by "Calm down." It was spoken in a female voice.

"Who are you?" I called out into the darkness.

"Christine" Said the same voice that told me to calm down.

"Christine who?" I asked as if this was some kind of sick joke. There was silence.

There was a knock at the door. "What?" I said like I knew who it was, I had no freaking idea who it was. The door opened and I turned my head to be blinded by the light from the doorway. There was a shadow of a man standing there. He walked in to the room and turned on a lamp.

I blinked my eyes to adjust to the light. The walls were made out of dark wooden panels and the bed had a blue quilt on it. And the place looked like it was kept clean. "Don't let her bother you." the man said "My eyes are not what they once were and if it wasn't for her, we might not have found you until morning."

At first I wondered what he was talking about. My head was still hurting. Then I noticed that laying to my right and blending in with the quilt was a Glaceon. A women entered the room, looked to be just as old as the man. She was holding my clothes. She put them down on the bed.

"I am glad to see that you're awake, the doctor said that were lucky to survive that crash. And he was amazed that you only had cuts and a broken wrist." She said "Lunch will be ready in a few minutes if you want to join us." She walked out of the room.

"The road won't be open until tonight so you can stay here until they open the road and you can call for a ride." The man said as he reached out to shake my hand. "You know, I never got you name."

"My name is Robert Laine, Most people just call me Rob" I said as I shook his hand.

"Johnson." He said. "But most people call me John." I looked at my arm and it was wrapped up in a bandage. It hurt to move but by now I was sitting up. "Well Rob let me know if you need anything."

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked.

"Down the hall and to the right" He replied while pointing down the hall.

As John left the room I got out of bed. My head had stopped spinning and I gained my balance. I grabbed my jeans, they had a fresh clean smell to them. But my shirt had small rips in it, I'll just get a new one when I get to my bag. As I was getting dressed the Glaceon was watching me. I paused for a moment "hey." I said. I had to find out if that Glaceon could talk or did I bump my head to hard. She said nothing. She jumped off the bed and went out of the room.

There was a clock in the room, it was noon. I walked out of the room and headed down the hall to the bathroom. I had to piss badly. After doing so I went over to the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. The first thing I noticed is that there was a bandage wrapped around my forehead. I took a look at my left arm and there was a white cast covering my wrist. After turning on the sink I splashed some water on my face to try to clean off some of the dirt. Using a nearby towel I was able to wipe away the dirt.

"Rob come and get something to eat." Said the woman from before, John must of told her my name. I walked out of the bathroom and I was starving. I haven't eaten anything since this time yesterday. I walked out of the bathroom and headed towards the main room of the house. I needed to find a phone and call Tim and tell him what happened. I don't think he's going to be too happy.

* * *

Nobody's Fault but Mine

January 19, 2000 12:27pm

* * *

I walked in to the main room of the house. The house was small, it had the feel of a log cabin but it was just a modular house. The main room had three areas. A living room, a dining room and separated from the two by a counter was a kitchen.

"Here you go." The woman said. I was handed a ham sandwich. I was hoping for a hot meal but being as hungry as I was I had no complaints, I started eating. Not bothering to ask her what her name was I proceeded to the next question on my mind. After swallowing the food I had in my mouth I asked "Do you have a phone I can use to call my boss in Fairbanks?"

"Over there." She pointed to a telephone that was hanging on the wall. I went over and picked up the receiver and dialed the number. After a few rings Tim picked up.

"Tim's Trucking, Tim speaking." Tim

"Hi, Tim." Rob

"Ah Rob, I have been waiting to hear from you, how are things?" Tim

"Not good…" Rob

"Not good?" Tim

"I crashed the truck, but I'm ok" Rob

"How did you wreak it? How bad is it!?" Tim

"Well I hit a snow drift and went off the road. I have a broken wrist and some cuts." Rob

"Where are you now?" Tim

"I am in Central with a family that rescued me from the crash. I would have called sooner but I blacked out." Rob

"So you're ok then?" Tim

"Yes, I'll be fine." Rob

"Where is my truck?" Tim

"I honestly don't know. I think it is somewhere in town by now." Rob

"Well when you find it, call me back. Any damage is coming out of your pay." Tim

Damn I thought. I should have seen that coming. By now I have finished off the sandwich.

"What's the word on the road reopening?" Rob

"Well I got a call from the DOT (department of transportation) crew earlier today and they received your load." Tim

"They did?" Rob

"Yes they did, but I haven't heard back from them since." Tim

"Ok, I will call later, or as soon as I find the truck." Rob

"All right, talk to you later." Tim

I hung up the phone and walked over to the living room area. John was sitting on the couch with a Glaceon lying down next to him. They were watching the news on a medium sized TV.

"With all the snow that has accumulated over night many roads have been shut down until they can be cleared. In national news an animal rights rally in Oakland, California turned violent when a Pit Bull owned by one of the Organizers tried to attack an officer. A Magnemite, owned by the police force shocked the dog to death. Tear gas was used to break up the riot. 14 people were sent to the hospital and 52 were arrested. The Oakland police are refusing to comment on this incident. In other news gas prices are expected to reach an average $1.40 by next month."

"Why don't you take a seat?" John asked. I took a seat at the opposite end of the couch from where John was sitting. "The world is going crazy ever since the mass population of Pokemon." John said.

"When did that happen?" I asked. Being as young as I was, I always thought things were always like this.

"About 100 years ago, that is when Pokemon first started to become popular among the poor and middle classes around the world. Before that Pokemon were wild creatures that were only found in the most remote parts of the world. They were only owned by explorers and the incredibly wealthy." John explained. "Stronger governments started putting ownership laws on Pokemon, while weak countries struggled to control the population and the Pokemon started running wild and killing animals for food. Sometimes just for the fun of it."

"Rob have you ever thought about owning a Pokemon?" I was somewhat shocked at the question. "The reason I'm asking is… We can't take care of Christine forever." He said while petting a Glaceon on the head.

"I need to be honest with you John, I'm not from Alaska. I live in North Carolina. I just travel up here for work. And besides, I don't know the first thing about Pokemon." I said while looking at the TV.

"So you're a southern boy th-" I stopped John right there.

"I am originally from Pennsylvania." I said, still looking at the TV.

"But you're southern now and we were considering moving to Florida so this will work out prefect!" John said. I managed to take my eyes off the TV at this point. "Well it's not like I haven't thought about owning a Pokemon. But I still don't have a permit." I said thinking, my friends will flip a biscuit over how I manage to get a rare Pokemon. But I soon discarded that thought.

"We got the permit three years ago in Fairbanks. It wasn't hard to get we just had to watch a video about the proper handling and care of Pokemon." John said.

"Ok well if it is that easy to get a permit then it looks like I got nothing to lose." I said after about 30 seconds of thinking. As we shook on the deal the Glaceon got up and jumped off the couch and ran down the hall way in the same manner she did before from the bed.

* * *

Communication Breakdown

January 19, 2000 1:29pm

Christine

* * *

I ran back to the bed room and kicked the door closed behind me. I wanted to be alone. He survived, that's all I can think about now. How? I saw him go flying shouldn't he have a broken… everything?! And now I am being given away to him! I know I want to get out of this town but this is a bit too much. I know I stayed with him when he was out of it, but when he said my name I found myself at a loss for words.

I found myself sniffing the spot where he was sleeping earlier looking for answers. A clue, a sign, there was nothing. From there I started thinking of a few ideas, a few good, others bad. Then I knew that I was going to confront him at some point and this time I wanted to try and use my words.

* * *

January 19, 2000 1:34pm

Rob

* * *

After watching the TV for a while I decided that it was time to locate my truck and asking a good question is going to bemy first move. "Is there a garage in town that my truck could have been towed to?" I asked.

"It's still outside" John said while pointing out the window. I went over to the window and looked out.

"Where are my boots?" I asked John.

"They are in the bed room, the one you were in." He replied while watching TV.

I walked down the hallway and towards the bed room. Opening the door I saw the Glaceon standing on the bed. She lifted her head up at the sound of me opening the door and jumped off the bed and ran past me and down the hall way.

I found my boots on the floor next to the bed and put them on. My jacket was still in the truck and being in a T-shirt I knew going out there was going to cold as balls. I never understood why people relate a temperature to their balls but I guess I was going to find out the hard way.

Closing the door behind me as I walked out of the room, I headed back to the main room. I saw the Glaceon again, this time walking around the room like she was waiting for something. I opened up the front door and stepped outside. Before I had a chance to close the door the Glaceon ran out the door and on to the porch.

I went up to the passenger door of the truck and tried to open it, but it was jammed. Looking back at the house I saw Glaceon walking around the side of the house and in to the bushes. I made my way to the other side of the truck looking at the broken driver side windshield. I was amazed at how I totaled a truck that is more expensive than the one I own back at home.

Looking at the trailer I noticed that the bulldozer was gone and part of the road was plowed and free of snow. Most of the snow was plowed on to my tuck making it difficult to get to the driver door. After digging away some of the snow I was able to open the door. The driver seat was slammed down on to the steering wheel so I had to force it back in to place to get around it. I finally made my way to the sleeper of the cab.

The first thing I did was grab my jacket and put it on. The temperature had to be around -40 degrees Fahrenheit. I got to my bag and opened it up. I noticed that everything on the shelves was a mess, so I started grabbing what I could and put it in my bag.

After getting all of my personal items I started to go for the snack food. A bag full of candy like m&m's, Snickers, box of Hot Tamales, can of Pringles (sour cream and onion), Mentos, Swedish Fish, a box of Twinkies, a bag of Doritos. I better stop, I'm giving myself the munchies.

With my bag packed it was time to go back inside the house and call Tim again. I shut the door of the truck and made my way back towards the house. I saw Glaceon sitting on the porch staring me down.

* * *

January 19, 2000 1:42pm

Christine

* * *

I saw him approaching; I wanted to say something, anything! But was there anything to be said? Of course there was, there was a lot to be said but I couldn't think of any of it at the moment.

As he closer I felt like I had to do something. I jumped off the porch and rushed at him as fast as I could. I jumped in to the air aiming for him. But he moved out of the way. I missed and landed on my feet. He dropped his bag.

Being behind him I tried it again. But he jumped to the right and I missed again. This time I landed sideways and rolled in the snow. So I tried something else, once again I was running but this time I took aim at his legs, he jumped up and I went under him. He just jumped over me! Not paying attention I went head first in to a pile of snow. I was stuck.

He was skilled and I could tell. I knew by the way he kept dodging me. He could hear me coming. Is this how he survived the crash? Just then he pulled me by my back legs and got me out of the snow. "Calm down." He said to me. I felt defeated I put my head down and walked to the house in shame. He was worthy of being my owner.


	3. Act 1 - Part 3

Cleaning Up

January 19, 2000 2:07pm

Rob

* * *

I put my bag on the bed and noticed that the Glaceon was also on the bed as well. Ever since I pulled her out of the snow she seems to be following me around. She seems to be acting very strange, she is keeping close but at the same time very distant. Every time I look at her she looks away, mostly down at the bed.

I opened up my bag. I had to find a different shirt, the one I am currently wearing has small rips in it from the accident. I looked though my bag and then I found it, a classic among rocks greatest bands and instantly recognizable to anyone who saw it, a shirt bearing the cross and skulls design of Guns N Roses first album Appetite for Destruction from 1987.

As I took my shirt off and put the old one in the bag I noticed the Glaceon staring at me again. She quickly looked away, at the wall this time. I put on my new shirt and started going through my bag, my hat was missing. I zipped up my bag and made my way out of the room, leaving the door open in case the Glaceon wanted to get out. It wasn't long before she was at my side again.

There was a knock at the front door. I went to the door and opened it and standing there was a member of the DOT crew. "We want to get this truck off the property. Do you know where the driver is?" the man in the orange reflective work vest said. "I'm the driver." I said as I was putting on my coat. Just like before the Glaceon was right by my side as I walked outside and shut the door behind me.

The bulldozer operator plowed away some of the snow that was covering the side of the truck. He positioned the bulldozer behind the trailer and then climbed out of the bulldozer. Another member of the DOT crew showed up with a 1987 International Eagle it was red in color. The driver got out and went to a big tool bin located on the back of the cab and pulled out a large chain.

The chain was hooked to the back of the bulldozer and then wrapped around the tow hooks on the back of the trailer. The bulldozer operator got back inside the bulldozer and started moving it forward. When there was no more slack in the chain it stretched out. With a loud clanking noise the chain snapped.

I made my way down the yard. "Try using load straps." I said as the DOT crew looked puzzled at what to do next. One of the men went to the tool bin on the back of the truck and started looking.

"I don't have any." He said. I went over to the driver side door of my crashed cab and opened it up and climbed inside. Once I made my way to the back I looked under the bed and instantly found what I was looking for.

I pulled out a tangle of thick yellow rope like belts. I untangled one of the straps. Under normal conditions the chain would have worked. Holding something down is one thing, but being pulled on in temperatures around -40F can cause chains to be weak and give out.

Before I left the cab I gathered the rest of the things that were mine, a crowbar, a small tool box, the rest of my load straps and my blue, somewhat oil stained Conrail baseball style hat that was sitting on the bed. I got the hat back in the early 90's when I worked at one of their shops for a few months repairing diesel-electric train motors.

I put on my hat and threw some of the stuff out of the cab before climbing down and picking it up again. I set the stuff down on the lawn and then brought my attention back to the DOT crew. I gave one of them the load strap. One end of it was tied to the bulldozer and the other was tied to the back of the trailer. Just like before the bulldozer operator stared up the bulldozer.

The strap held and the truck backed away from the tree. As it let off the tree the hood flipped forward and the sound of glass and snow could be heard hitting the ground. By this time I had gotten my gloves out of my coat and put them on.

I went over to the trailer and started cranking down the landing gear. Unlike the cab the trailer was in a decent condition from years of wear and tear. When the landing gear hit the ground a DOT worker pulled the lever on the 5th wheel that held the trailer onto the cab and disconnected the brake and electrical lines.

A few minutes later the bulldozer was strapped to the front of the cab. As the bulldozer moved forward the cab was yanked back on to the road and away from the trailer. The bulldozer was disconnected from the cab and moved to the back and reconnected. This time the cab was moved back past the trailer and out of the way.

I helped guide the new cab as it was backing up to connect to the trailer. As the new cab was being connected the wrecked cab was being pushed on to the flat bed by the bulldozer. "What company do you work for?" One of the DOT members asked me.

"I work for Tim's Trucking" I said.

"Ok, well call Tim and tell him to send up another driver to pick up. Your truck we will be brought to the parking lot of the Standard in the middle of town." They knew who Tim was because he owns one of the only companies that sends trucks up this way.

The DOT crew packed up and gave me the load straps back. They drove away towards town and the bulldozer followed them down the road. I picked my things up off the lawn and as I made my towards the house the Glaceon was nowhere to be found. I figured she was let in by John's wife or something.

I made my way inside and set my stuff down by the door. "Have you seen the Glaceon?" I asked the woman sitting on the couch. "No I haven't, she probably went in to town like she normally does. She is usually back before sun down." She said as she watched TV.

Well with a few hours before sun down I might as well hang around for a few and give Tim another call. But it would still be a few days before the road would be open and he could send someone up here. I had to find another way to get back to Fairbanks.

* * *

Finding A Way - Part 1

January 19, 2000 2:23pm

Christine

* * *

I watched the cleanup from the porch. I sat there for about 10 minutes just thinking about the way I acted earlier. I had to find help or some advice or something or I was going to go crazy so I made my way down the steps and across the lawn. I knew just who to see.

I stayed away from the crash site because I don't feel like being run over. I made my way over the embankment and on to the side of the road. It doesn't seem like anyone has noticed me. I made my way along the right side of the road staying close to the grass and trying to keep as visible as possible so anyone who was driving would know I was there.

This town is so small that it only seems to have only two streets. I ran across the road and started down a long driveway. The snow here was almost up to my nose and I had to jump to get around but I finally made my way to the house. The house was about as big as the one I lived in but was a lot older.

I found the log pile around back and attempted to climb up it. The snow gave way on the pile and sent me sliding with it. I rolled over and got back on my paws to try again. Now that the snow was on the ground the climb was much easier. At the top of the pile was a window that I am often let in through.

This is the house of Nathan the local trainer who started when he adopted six eeveelutions that were rescued when there was a police raid on an illegal breading operation in Fairbanks about 5 years ago. They were born there and were essentially evolved overnight and about to be sold. When I moved in to the town they became like sisters to me. Since I am not owned by a trainer I never had a chance to learn the proper moves necessary to fight. When I was there they will try to teach me what they know, but I am still weaker than they are.

Nathan already has earned one badge, the one from Anchorage. He has been talking a lot about getting another one recently, but he's having trouble getting the time off of work to take a trip.

I looked in to the window and it was dark inside but I tapped on the glass anyway. Normally someone will hear me knocking on the glass with my paw and since the window slid open sideways it wasn't hard for another Pokemon inside to hit the latch and slide it open. Nathan told me that I was welcome to drop by whenever I felt like it, but today it looked like no one was home.

Knowing where Nathan works I decided to go to the Standard station and see if he's working today like he is most days. I hoped off the log pile and back down the driveway. The Standard wasn't too far from here so I started walking.

I hopped up on to the concrete windowsill of the convenience store and looked inside. There he was standing at the register looking board out of his mind since he was the only one there at the time. So I pushed open the door and made my way inside.

There was no uniform required to work there so he was just wearing his usual green cammo hat that had the US Army logo on the front and grey hoodie and blue jeans. He was about 5ft 9in and had black hair and he always wore glasses. When I asked him why he just said he was nearsighted.

"Hey Christine what are you doing here?" He asked me as I jumped up on to the counter.

"Well it looked like no one was home so I decided to see if you were here." I said now sitting on the counter.

"Well everyone is home but they are probably all sleeping." He said.

"Why would they be sleeping on a day like today?" I asked.

"I guess I forgot to tell you, I got plane tickets and time off of work and we will be going to Portland, Oregon for a week. We are going to try to win a second badge! I paid a little extra and rented a small jet to fly to Fairbanks. I figure we should fly out in style before being crammed on a big commercial airplane." He explained.

"That's great!" I paused for a moment "To bad I won't be here when you get back…" I looked down. I felt like I was going to cry. I was definitely going to miss this small town.

"Whys that?" He asked.

"Well I am being adopted by someone who lives far away, I don't know if I will ever see this place again." I said as a tear drop hit the counter.

"Well I leave tonight after work, if you want you can hang out here until my shift is over and then you can go say good bye to the girls." He said as he took me in to a hug to try to calm me down. I put my front legs up over his shoulders and he put his arms around my back.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked me. I took him up on his offer and asked for a Slim Jim. He went around the counter and grabbed a Slim Jim off of the shelf and handed it to me. I sat upright with my back on the side of the register. I wrapped my left paw around it and used one of my right claws to get it open. From there I was holding it with both paws eating it. This is something I have learned to do through observation. It may not be the best of methods but it sure beats the hell out of eating it off the floor.

I sat there eating and thinking about what my new life might be like. I didn't know if I was going to be properly trained or if I was going to get treated like a pet. Rob seems like a nice guy so I doubt he will abuse me. But I wondered what kind of place I would be moving to. But one thing is certain he doesn't need me to protect him, he seems to be doing fine on his own.

* * *

Finding A Way – Part 2

January 19, 2000 3:30pm

Christine

* * *

I hung out with Nathan at the store for about an hour. A few people came in, some knew me, and others didn't and thought I was Nathan's Glaceon, Dentyne. Some people usually get the two of us confused but she is slightly smaller than I am but way more powerful.

The DOT crew showed up at the store. They left Rob's truck out in the parking lot on the flatbed. As they were getting ready to leave one of them entered the store. I watched as he made his way over to the counter. Nathan looked up at him and said "Hi, can I help you?"

"Hi." The man said. "We got a crashed truck out there. We found it on the side of the highway and it will be picked up in a few days when the road is open." The worker said as he handed the keys to Nathan. The gas station is the perfect place to bring wreaked vehicles until they can be taken out of town.

"Ok." Nathan said as he took the keys.

"The truck is owned by Robert Laine of Tim's Trucking." The man said as he reached down and grabbed a few packs of m&m's off the shelf.

"Oh, I know him." Nathan said as he took the m&m's and scanned them.

"You do?" I spoke up. I had been sitting there on the counter in between them the entire time.

"You can talk!" the worker interrupted. A Pokemon that knew English was a rare thing in a place like this, well rare in general. Physic Pokemon were the most common to learn the language because of their ability to see in to people's minds. It took me two years to learn it and that's with a good teacher. "Do you mind if I pet you?" He asked.

"Sure… Go ahead." I responded to the awkward question. He removed one of his gloves and started scratching my back. I laid down on the counter, the scratching felt nice. "So, Nathan, how do you know Rob?" I asked because I had to know.

"Well last year he brought me my new hot water heater. I helped him get it off the truck and he helped me install it. I think he helped a few people that day, his truck was full of all kinds of appliances. I thanked him and gave him $100" He said as the man stopped scratching my back and paid for the m&m's and went out the door.

"I remember when that happened. Your house didn't have water for two months." I said as I sat back up and noticed that it was going to get dark soon. "Rob is the person who adopted me." I said almost out of nowhere.

"So there is a chance that you might be back next year." Nathan said as he rubbed the top of my head.

"You think so?" I said in an excited tone.

"Well he was here last year. Companies usually hang on to drivers who have the guts to work out here." Nathan said. "I get off work at 4, so you can go home now and then go to my place. Or you can stay here and follow me home." He offered.

"I think I should head home before it gets dark out or Margret will worry about me. I'll see you later." I said. I turned and hopped off the counter.

"Ok, see you later." Nathan said as I walked over to the door and since it had no latch I pushed it open with my head and walked out. The parking lot was free of snow because it had all been pushed to the side by the bulldozer. I started walking down the road, keeping to the side so I wouldn't get run over. I found my way on to the porch and started knocking the door with my paw. John let me in. He and Rob were talking again.

* * *

January 19, 2000 3:34pm

Rob

* * *

I picked the phone up off the hook and dialed Tim's number. It rang for a while and then he picked up. "Tim's trucking." He said.

"I found your truck. They took it to the Standard station in Central." I said a bit annoyed that's all he seems to truly care about are his profits.

"Ok, well the road is going to be closed for three more days while the avalanche crew blasts the mountains to remove the snow. I will be able to send someone up then to pick you and the truck up."

Damn three more days I thought to myself. "So when I get back what should I do?" That was the only think I could think of asking at the time. I was wondering if he had a truck in storage so maybe I could at least finish up the season.

"Well…" He thought for a while. I could hear him flipping through some papers. "You could pick up last week's pay check." I had been working so hard I forgot all about it. But I needed it seeing as how this week's pay would be a bust. "The truck you drove last year has a broken alternator. So I guess, go back home and get some R&R (rest and relaxation)."

Well that's disappointing. At least I could go and spend a late holiday season with my parents this year I thought. But three days! I couldn't stay here that long. I didn't even know if this town had a hotel I could stay at. "I will talk to you again when I see you." We said our good byes and I hung up.

That's when John entered the kitchen. "Hay John, do you know if there are any flights leaving from the airport tonight?" I asked in hopes he might know the answer. He took a moment to look at a colander on side of the fridge. I walked out to the living room, me and John still talking. That's when John opened the door and let Christine in to the house.

"Not tonight. But if you pay up front I know they will fly you to Fairbanks in one of those small prop planes." I didn't have the cash on me to buy my way to Fairbanks. All I had on me was about $50 and a bag full of food.

"If you're looking for a flight, I might be able to get us on a plane tonight." Christine said while looking at me. This is the first time she has truly spoken to me since the accident. I guess I didn't hit my head that hard after all. There was so much I wanted to ask her, but there would be time for that later.

* * *

Finding A Way – Part 3

January 19, 2000 4:04pm

Rob

* * *

Christine told me all about her friend Nathan, and how he's flying to Fairbanks tonight. She also told me that I met the guy before and that we might have a chance of getting out of this town. So I grabbed my coat, I left my bag here just in case I couldn't make the flight. I figured taking it would seem rude. I would come back for it if I got the ok.

As I opened the front door Christine went out first, she knew the way. It was already dark outside. When you're about 70 miles from the Arctic Circle the sun sets quickly in the winter. The night was still. It was quiet and the air was freezing. When I exhaled the steam from my breath seemed to be frozen in place.

I walked off the porch; the sound of snow crunching under my boots was the only thing around to be heard. I looked up at the sky. All the stars were out tonight. The moon was also shining bright. It was the only source of light. It's strange looking at the moon because its night where you're standing but when you look at the moon, what you're really looking at is day time on the moon.

"Are you coming?" I heard a voice call out from the road. I focused my attention back on the task at hand and walked down the yard. I met up with Christine on the road and we started walking together down the road. It was nice to see that the snow was cleared off the road, but we still had to watch out for the ice patches.

She was having an easier time then I was at avoiding the ice. It just came so natural to her. It made me feel bad that I was going to be taking her out of her element and to a place where it very rarely snowed. But if it was a better life they wanted for her then I will give it my best shot. Besides how hard can it be to take care of a Pokemon?

"How much further?" I wined like a child that was going to McDonalds, getting annoyed by the cold air.

"It right… here." Christine said as she started down a driveway. She was hopping in and out of holes in the snow that looked premade. I walked carefully down the driveway trying to step in these holes as well. As I made my way up to the door I noticed that there was a light on inside. With Christine standing by my side I knocked on the door. This place seemed familiar but I wasn't sure how.

"Hold on I'll be right there." A voice said from inside. A few seconds later the door opened.

"Nathan?" I asked.

"Hello, I'm Nathan." He said as he shook my hand.

"Hi Nathan." Christine said as she stood there.

"Hi, Christine. You must be Rob, Christine's new trainer." Nathan said as Christine walked inside.

"Well I don't know about trainer, but I will be providing for her." I said.

"Well don't just stand there, come on in." Nathan said as he moved from the door way.

I closed the door behind me when I entered. "So how's the trucking going?" Nathan asked as if he knew me. "You brought me a new hot water tank last year." He continued. That's when I remembered who he was.

"Well I crashed my truck yesterday and that's why I am here." I said "Christine said you had a flight out of here tonight and I was wondering if Christine and I could go with you to Fairbanks. Where's Christine?"

"She is probably in the other room with my Pokemon. There are all eating before we go." He said as he walked in to the kitchen. Just then a Leafeon came running out of the kitchen and jumped on to the couch. "That's Lily, she won't bite, none of them will unless I tell them to." I followed him in to the kitchen. In there I found Christine talking her poke-talk with an Espeon and a Vaporeon. There is a Jolteon, Flareon and another Glaceon still eating.

"They are all rescues from Fairbanks. There are all girls. Over there is Jenny the Jolteon, Cassandra the Flareon, and Dentyne the Glaceon." Nathan explained.

"Why Dentyne?" I asked.

"Well she looks like an ice." He said.

"And talking to Christine over there is Dana the Espeon and Heather the Vaporeon." He said. I have no idea how he remembered all their names but I guess it grows on you once you have been around them long enough.

"So why are you flying out of town tonight?" I asked him.

"Well, we are going to Fairbanks International Airport and then on to Portland, Oregon to compete in a Pokemon battling competition. First place gets a badge and the winning team gets there picture put up on the wall of fame. We've been training all year for a shot at being Oregon's best of 2000." He explained with confidence. "So where are you from?" He asked me.

"Raleigh, North Carolina." I replied.

"Wow! That's far. What's it like down there?" He asked.

"Well first of all its way more populated then this place, and well, around this time of year it's nice and cool. Little to no snow, hardly ever get snow." I told him.

"I bet it gets brutally hot in the summer." He went on.

"It gets in to the 80's and 90's, keeps the air conditioner going." I said.

"How do you think Christine will handle it?" He asked me.

"Well I am kind of curious as to that myself. I hope I don't need to keep her in the house all summer." I said as we walked in to the living room.

"From my experience Dentyne and Heather are the only two that can stay outside for longer than 10 minutes in the winter. I need to keep the rest out of those freezing temperatures." He said as he was putting his coat on.

"Dentyne! Heather! And Christine! I need you." He called out to them and they came out of the kitchen.

"Well if you want to be on that plane then you got to help me dig." He said while looking at me. Once again Christine was by my side as the five of us went out the door and in to the night.

* * *

Fly By Night

January 19, 2000 4:19pm

Rob

* * *

We quickly made our way over to the tool shed. Nathan unlocked the door and went inside. He came back out with two snow shovels. "Ok. We must be at the airport in ten minutes so we need to work quickly." He said as he handed me a shovel. We went over to a large pile of snow and Nathan dug in and some of it fell to reveal a window and a mirror. It quickly occurred to me that we were digging out his truck.

"Because I work so close to home I don't tend to drive often. So the snow keeps piling up. Heather, Dentyne and Christine I want you three to start digging under and behind the truck. Rob clear the right side. I'll take the left." And with that I got to work shoveling snow away from the side of the truck.

It only took a few minutes and then the Vaporeon popped out from under it on my side. I had most of the snow moved away from the side. "Rob get the roof." Nathan said as he used the key to unlock the door of his 1990 GMC Jimmy. It was black with a small lift in the suspension and had large snow tires. Nathan got inside and started it up. I went over to the left side and used my shovel and pushed all the snow off the roof to the right.

"I need to go get my bag, I'll be right back." I said as I cleared the last of the snow off the hood.

"Alright, hurry, I don't want to miss this flight. I'm going to stay here and heat up the engine." He said as he started revving the engine. As I made my way down the drive way I noticed the three Pokemon hard at work clearing a path to the road. I ran past them and on to the road.

I ran all the way back to the house and entered the door. John and Margret were sitting on the couch watching TV. They were watching one of those day-time drama / romance television show. I personally preferred either an action or comedy flick. Or sometimes both, like when a car full of clowns speed must not fall below 125mph or the bomb will go off.

"I got Christine's registration papers for you." John said as he got up off the couch. "Where is she?"

"She is over at Nathan's, helping him. She got us on that flight and I need to hurry back before we miss it." I said as I picked up my bag that I left by the door.

"Well take these papers to the Poke Center in Fairbanks and tell them you want to get an owners permit." He explained as he handed me the papers. I took the papers and unzipped my bag and stuffed them in there. We shook hands and then Margret walked over to me and handed me a piece of paper with a phone number on it.

"Call us when you get home." She said as she handed me the paper.

"I will." I replied accepting the number.

"Now run, you got a plane to catch." John said to me. And with that I went out the door and made my way to the road. I ran down the road as fast as I could. When I got back to Nathan's house time was not on our side. I was out of breath from running and I could feel my injuries hurting from the strain I just put on them. If you were to look at me all you would see is that my left wrist was broken and in a cast. You wouldn't be able to see the bloody bandage wraps on my arms and around the top of my head because I had on my heavy coat and my hat on.

Nathan had the truck backed up to the front door of the house. I walked around to the back of the truck. Nathan was picking up his Pokemon and was putting them in the back of the truck. He already had the heater going full blast to ensure that no one would freeze on the way to the airport. The truck is like a cross between a pickup truck and a SUV. There was no wall separating the cabin from the cargo area, but it was a two seater. The bed of the truck had padding for the Pokemon to lie down on.

I did my part and picked up Christine, she seemed to be caught off guard when I picked her up. She wiggled and squirmed in protest but I put her in the back with the others. For a fit and in-shape looking Glaceon she was heavier then she looked. But I probably shouldn't tell her that. Most things are typically heavier then they look.

A good example of this ended up with me in the hospital for a few days. I had just got done driving eight hours to Davenport, Iowa with a cargo that consisted of bulk boxes of butter sticks among other refrigerated goods. When off-loading the trailer I was tired and refused to use the hand truck and attempted to pick up a few of those boxes. Either it was too heavy or I just did it wrong but it threw out my back. It was both embarrassing and extremely painful. Sometimes I still get pains in my lower back from that incident.

"That's all of them" Nathan said as he shut the tail gate. I closed the top window hatch. I went around to the passenger side door and opened it and got inside. It was nice and hot in the truck. Then Nathan got in as well. "You ready?" he asked me as he fumbled with the radio.

"Yah, let's go." I told him and then he turned on some of that new late 90's wuss rock, if you could call it rock. But being the passenger I just kept my mouth shut. He threw the gear in reverse and backed down the driveway. Once on the road he backed up to the left and then flicked it in to drive. So here I was once again headed down the Steese Highway only this time I wasn't the one driving. With all the pokemon in the back talking about subjects that I may never understand and Nathan driving I just sat there and looked out the window. We went past the Standard station and then we crossed a small bridge over Crooked Creek.

He slowed down to about 10mph as he crossed the bridge. Having been up this way before I knew that the bridge was not paved, it has a steel frame but we were driving across long wooden planks. We were only going about 20mph down the road. But it wasn't long until we turned in to the entrance of Central Airport. It was a small airport with no terminal building. It just had a control tower and few hangers and a parking lot.

We pulled in to a space and Nathan shut the engine off. I got out of the truck and Nathan followed. He went to the back and popped the hatch open and then dropped the tailgate. Christine was the first to jump out and then a few others did so as well. Nathan managed to grab Jolteon, I think her name was Jenny, and Espeon. I can't recall her name. Then I got my bag out of the back before I closed the hatches.

We all walked past the gate and on to the air field. There was no security like you would expect at an airport. There was a hanger with a light on inside so that's where we headed. When we reached the hanger Nathan knocked on the door and we stood there for a second before it opened. "You must be Nathan, I was just de-icing the plane." Said a voice from inside.

I walked in to the hanger. "My name is Mike and I will be taking ya to Fairbanks tonight." Mike was slightly taller than we were and had black pants and a white button down collar shirt with a pocket and a pilots hat. Before me was the smallest jet plane I have ever seen. It only had three windows on the side, the ones for the passenger compartment, and two small engines on the back.

"It's all fueled up and ready to go." Mike said as he opened a door on the side and pulled out a small set of stairs. For a second I felt like I was important and like I had a million bucks as I wondered, is this what it's like to own one of these. Until I got inside and found that there was little to be desired. The walls were white and it had run of the mill seats, nothing fancy like I hoped for. There was only room for 12 people. The seats were in rows of two with an aisle running down the middle stopping at the back wall with a small door with a bathroom sign on it. I found it amusing the way some of Nathans Pokemon were sitting and some were laying down on the seats.

Nathan and Flareon took a seat in the middle row on the left side and me and Christine went to the right side in the same row, because the first row was already taken. The rest of the Pokemon made their way to the third and final row. "I got to go open the hanger doors, just hang tight until I get back." Mike said as he left the plane. The door to the flight deck was left open and I could see out the front window as the doors of the hanger were slid open.

Mike returned to the plane and folded up the stairs and closed the latched the door. "The flight time is around 40 minutes and the air is…" He took a moment to look at a piece of paper on a clipboard. "Looking calm, so little to no turbulence." He went in to the flight deck.

The engines started up with a whirl. Then the plane started moving forward out of the hanger slightly. Some radio communication between Mike and the person up the tower could be heard coming from the flight deck. As we made our way slowly towards the runway, I saw three people walking to the hanger we just came from. "What are you doing here?" Mike said, looking at the co-pilot seat.

"Leaf!" A voice said happily.

"Alright you can stay, just don't touch anything." He stated to the Pokemon.


	4. Act 1 - Part 4

Head Games

January 19, 2000 4:42pm

Christine

* * *

The sound coming from the engines got louder as they gained speed. I was sitting next to Rob on the outside seat. He put his seat belt on. Looking out the window I noticed that we were moving. But it was obvious by the way the plane was rumbling and bumping as it made its way down the runway.

I lied down on the seat as best I could. Then everything tilted backwards. I felt like I was going to be sick. I closed my eyes. I wanted it to stop, and then it did. There was a loud muffled thud that came from under the plane. "What was that?!" I yelled.

"That was me putting up the landing gear." Mike said from the flight deck.

"Try to relax Christine" Rob said to me as he unbuckled his seat belt. "So is this your first time on a plane?" He asked me.

"Yes." I replied.

"_That was scary and you should be scared because of it._" A voice in my head said. Wait a voice in my hea- "_Dana is that you?_"

"_No, I am Randy Rhoads back from the dead. Of course it's me!_" Dana said.

"_Who's Rand-_""_Shudd-up._" She interrupted my thinking.

"Rob." I said to get his attention.

"Ya?" He said.

"Who is Randy Rhoads?" I asked.

"He was a guitarist before his death in the 80's." He told me.

"How did he die?" I wanted to know. Rob paused for a minute like he was thinking of something.

"How about… I tell you later." He said looking down at me.

"_So what are you doing here, in my head I mean?_"

"_Just picking your brain, in your brain._" She said. "_I can tell that you were slightly amused by the corniness of that joke._" She continued.

"_Get out of my head!_" I yelled in my mind.

"_What? Am I not allowed in? Or there is something here that you don't want me to find? Aww no way! A bag of crunchy Cheetos!_" She can be annoying sometimes, but this was more annoying than usual.

"_What the hell are you talking about?_" I asked but I could hear was the sound of crunchy Cheetos being chomped on. "_Can… hold on I… Say words. AH!_" it was no use the sound was to powerful and she couldn't hear me. "_How about… still going. Ok…._"

"Hay, don't talk while my mouth is full." She said as if her mouth was full. "_This place is a mess you should consider getting brain washed._" She was always good at telling bad or just corny jokes.

"_That was just awful._" I said to her.

"_I know._" She replied.

"_No, you should feel awful for having said that._" I quickly responded.

"_But I don't._" She said in a pleased manner. "_But it distracted you long enough._"

"_Long enough for what?_" I asked.

"_Long enough to do this._" There was the sound of a jackhammer accompanied by a car alarm going off in my brain. That's when I realized that she had found what she was after.

"_Don't do that!_" I pleaded.

"_Oh yah? And what if I do?_" She said in a childish way.

"_If you do then… then… then I'm-ma head up!_" Somehow this seemed like the best way to get my anger across.

"_Oh please, you don't want to fight me._" She said.

"_You wanna bet?_" I was angry at this point.

"_Bet deez nuts._" She said in her usual joking manner.

"_What nuts? You don't have any nuts!_" She was testing my patience at this point.

"_Ok, when we land I will go get a can of Planters Nuts and then we can fight about it._" She said almost laughing.

"_The cashews or the mixed?_" I asked.

"_Quit being so nutty._" She said.

I jumped out of my seat and quickly made my way over to her. I jumped up and brought my left front paw crashing down on her head with enough force that she would feel it the next day. "Stop with the terrible puns!" I yelled out loud. I noticed everyone was staring at for this outburst. Thoroughly embarrassed, I made my way back to my seat.

"Are you ok?" Rob asked me as I sat back down.

"I'm fine." I replied.

* * *

Looking Ahead

January 19, 2000 5:03pm

Christine

* * *

I looked around wanting something to do or someone to talk to. Most of the other Pokemon were chatting with each other and Nathan was asleep. "Christine you got to see this." Rob said to me as he was looking out the small window. I stood up and slowly made my way a few feet over to him. "Come on." He said now looking at me. Before I knew it I was standing on his lap with my face pressed against the window.

The first thing I noticed were the small ice particles that gathered at the edge of the window. I looked further out in to the blackness. I saw a steady green light and a quick flash of a white light. All I can do is stare at the green light as the white light flashed again. "Creepy isn't it?" Rob said to me as I held my attention to the mesmerizing lights.

That's when I felt a hand start to scratch the back of my head and then behind my ears. I looked up and it was Rob, he continued. I laid down on his lap and closed my eyes for a second. It felt safe and comforting. "So what's it like?" I asked Rob.

"What what's like?" He asked back confused at the question. That's when I realized that I didn't actually ask an answerable question.

"Where you live, I mean." I had to know about what I was getting in to. What kinds of things would I do once I left this small town? Would I be going to a big city like they show on TV? I had to ask.

"Well, I live in a small town just outside of a…" He paused for a second "Reasonably large city. It no New York but it's a good size." Well at least there would be more than 100 people I thought to myself.

"So how big is the town you live in?" I asked.

"Well the town of Wake Forest has about ten thousand people in it. I got plenty of friends, some of them even have Pokemon that you might get along with. You won't be alone. I don't think there are any other snow or ice Pokemon though, you might be a first for this town." He explained to me.

I recalled how much fun I had in Anchorage with my brother and sister before we all went our separate ways. It made me sad that I may never see them again, or even knew if they were still alive. But maybe this new chapter in my life would make up for it.

"I have a friend who works for the Department of Pokemon Control and Regulation in downtown Raleigh. Since he can view national records he has figured out that people tend to own Pokemon that are suited for the environment they live in. For example, how many fire Pokemon do you know?" He asked me.

"Only Cassandra." I replied.

"What about me?" Cassandra said as she jumped up on the seat next to us.

"We're just talking." I said to her, sill speaking English so it seemed like a one sided conversation to Rob.

"Well yah, I can see that but what are you talking about?" She asked.

"We are talking about what my new home is going to be like." I said and then Rob butted in.

"You want to know about you home? Well it's a single floor, 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms, I like to have a spare room just in case one of my friends need to crash there for the night. No garage, I just park everything next to the house and I have all the useless crap on the front lawn you could ever want, mostly just broken appliances and truck parts. The city once sent me a letter telling me it was an eye sore. I went to the town hall and pointed out the various mobile homes that are sitting on empty lots around the town that people are living in. Then told them that I work for a living and I'm not home enough to care, and then I crumpled up the letter and told them that they could blow me! I was surprised when one of the receptionists, I can remember her name, but she followed me out and took me up on that offer and… Never mind…." Rob quickly stopped talking when he saw me and Cassandra giving him a look of 'What the hell man.'

"Point is the city doesn't bother me anymore." He stated like it was going to make a difference, it didn't. I just started thinking about the Pokemon distribution he was talking about previously.

It didn't make much sense seeing as how Pokemon in America were not legally allowed to be considered wild. Under the Preservation of Natural Species act that was passed in the 70's. Since Pokemon were allegedly a transplant to America they had to be kept under some form of ownership to protect powerless animals. Can you believe that for a short time Europe declared war on Pokemon? It only lasted a few months but the blood shed was just barbaric. Stuff like this is happening right now in places like the Middle East. I like to watch the news a lot that is how I know so much about what's going on in the world.

In some countries animals have been wiped out completely and replaced with Pokemon. It seems like Pokemon, animals and government will never get along, and America is just as guilty of this as the rest of the world.

* * *

Passing the Time

January 19, 2000 5:17pm

Christine

* * *

"We have been working our asses off for the past few weeks to prepare for the battle in a few days." Dentyne said as we were now sitting in the last row of seats. "The other day I accidentally ice beamed a lamp and it fell and broke. I have a good ten foot reach with it, have you been practicing what I taught you?" She asked me.

"I have. But I can only get up to a few feet." I said looking down embarrassed that I was not as powerful as they were.

"It's all about practice. You got to dig deep down and tap in to your energy." Dentyne told me.

"I have been controlling how many volts I put out per attack. Not going full blast on one attack is really paying off and helping me with my endurance." Jenny said from the other side of the plane as she sat next to Cassandra.

"I can turn this entire place in to an oven if I wanted to!" Cassandra spoke up. She has always had great control of her fire. She often loved to show off and just move and twist flames around her.

"We convinced Nathan to leave a few days early so we could get out and see the city before we need to head back home." Jenny said.

"It's not as cold down south as it is up here so maybe we could stay outside longer and actually enjoy the winter for a bit." Cassandra said.

"Don't you have fire to keep you warm?" I asked.

"Yah, but if I get to cold then my power gets weak and I can freeze to death." She answered.

"I don't even have fire to keep me warm, I will die for sure out there." Jenny said as she looked out the window.

"Wow… it sure is a long way down." Dentyne said as she looked out the window on her side.

"You know what's strange?" Cassandra asked.

"No, what?" I replied.

"I can smell food but I have no idea where it is." Cassandra said sniffing the air.

"Christine, ask Rob if he has food, I know Nathan didn't pack any. He told us that we will eat when we get to the hotel." Jenny said.

I was sitting right behind Rob so it wasn't hard to get his attention. "Rob! Were hungry, got any food?" I asked.

"Ya, I got some." He said as he reached down and grabbed his bag off the floor by his feet. He unzipped it and got out a can of Pringles. "Yall want some of these, I got a fresh can." He said as he opened the can.

I left my seat and went over to where he was sitting and jumped back up to my original spot by his side. I was soon followed by Cassandra, Jenny and Dentyne. They all tried to get up on my seat. Only Jenny made it.

"Alright, some food!" Lily said as she made her way over to us.

"Where the hell have you been?" Cassandra asked her.

"I have been in the front of the plane this entire time. The view from up there is amazing." She was always impressed by the simple things. She always seemed to look at nature as a source of amusement.

"Maybe that's because it's in her nature to be one with nature." A voice said from behind all of us. I turned around and it was Dana.

"What are you talking about?" Dentyne asked.

"I was just responding to a statement in Christine's mind." Dana said.

"Look I have no idea what going on here, but if you want chips go back to your seat and I will pass them out. Being all bunched up like this is not going to work." Rob said. Jenny hopped down from my seat and headed towards the back. I could finally lay down and enjoy the small pile of chips that was placed in front of me.

Rob went around the plane and passed out chips to everyone. They all showed there appreciation in getting a small snack. Rob scooted his way past me and took his seat. "If I knew taking care of Pokemon was going to be this easy I would have had gotten one sooner." He said as he was munching away at the small amount of chips he had left.

After I finished eating my snack I saw that Rob has finished the can off and has moved on to something in a dark red box.

"What are you eating now?" I asked Rob.

"Hot Tamales." He said as he popped a hand full in to his mouth.

"Can I have some?" I asked.

"Ok." he said as he put a few down in front of me.

I scooped them up and they were hot. It felt like my mouth was on fire. I almost spit them out but then I tasked there cinnamon flavor. It was good but my mouth was still burning and I was showing it.

"Watch it, those things will melt the ice right off ya." Rob said as he was looking through his bag. "Here have a Mento." He said as he handed me a small white piece of candy. I ate it right out of his hand.

It was extremely minty flavored and cooled my mouth down instantly. "Feeling better?" He asked me.

"Yah, much better. They were both good. But those Tamales, I will need to have again later when I have something to drink." I said to him. He laughed and gave some more Mentos.

* * *

Back In Town

January 19, 2000 5:35pm

Christine

* * *

I am once again standing on Rob's lap and gazing out the window. This time there is a lot more lights to look at because we are high above the city of Fairbanks. Most of the lights are red and white, some flashing and others not. I have been to Fairbanks before but I have never seen it like this.

Just then the viewing angle went down sharply. Have we been turning like this the entire time? The way everything suddenly tilted to the right made me sick to my stomach. It was like being on a roller coaster and not knowing it until you look at the ground. I quickly lay down and I feel like I am going to throw up. I closed my eyes and brought my paws up and placed them over my mouth.

Rob put his arms around me, it made me feel a bit better. Being held by him seemed to calm me down quickly and everything stopped moving and went back to the way it was before. He started to scratch my back with his left hand and I could feel his cast rubbing cumbersomely along my fur. That's when I remembered that he was in pain. I can still recall the look of agony on his face as he laid in bed knocked out by being thrown on the ground. I stayed by his side even after being told to leave him be. I had to protect him and make sure he would be alright in his time of need.

I have never truly seen a trucker before. I have always thought of them to be big men who are extremely strong in order to be able to drive such a large vehicle. But Rob was not big and bulky like I expected. From what I seen of him, he doesn't appear to be extremely strong as well. But what surprised me the most is how he out maneuvered me. I don't know why I attacked him and I don't think I ever will, but the result was shocking. He wasn't mad at me at all for trying to hit him. Instead he pulled me out of the snow that my head was stuck in and looked at me with those blue eyes of his, like he's doing right now and- oh shit. "What?" He asked me.

How long have I been staring at him? Quick, think of something to say to not make this the worst thing ever! "I was just wondering how you're wounds are feeling." I said to him. That was a close one, but I got it under control now.

"Well my head no longer hurts. But I can still feel a burning in my arms though." He said to me. I took a look at the white bandage wraps he had along his arms and they were stained with dry blood. I sighed as I got up and turned around so I was facing towards the aisle. Laying back down I noticed a few things going on around the plane, none of them interesting. Nathan was passed out in the window seat across the aisle from us. Heather walked past me and went to the last row of seats.

"Circle around and approach the runway from the south west." A voice said from a radio in the flight deck. Followed by Mike saying something else but I couldn't be bothered to listen any longer.

"I hope you're ready to walk. When we land we need to walk across town to the truck depot." Rob said to me as he scratched my back. I didn't say anything because any question as to why I already knew the answer to. The rest of his stuff was over there. That was the simple answer. So I kept my mouth shut and enjoyed the scratching as it moved to the top of my head.

Have you ever gotten that sinking feeling? I got up and turned around once again and was looking out the window. The view was much different this time. Looking up I could see the moon. We were turned around. I looked down and saw the moon light shining along an icy river surface. We were much closer to the ground. I could no longer see the city lights. Then the river started to leave my view and a set of bright colored lights passed under us. We were way to close to the ground now. I couldn't watch any longer, I was beginning to feel sick again. There was a sudden jolt accompanied by a rumbling sound. Then once more it happened again. But this time there was a screeching sound.

The rumbling got deeper and louder, but at the same time it got slower. I had to see what was going on. I stood back up to look out the window. I saw that we were level with lights that I could see in windows of buildings in the distance. This told me that we were once again on the ground. "Hey, watch where you swinging that thing" Rob said with a slight laugh in his voice. "Well I am glad to see you're feeling better." He said as he grabbed my tail.

I was so happy that I didn't realize that I was wagging my tail and the end of it was hitting him in the face. When I turned around he let go of my tail. "Your tail is as flat as a pancake. It looks like a paddle. Are you a good swimmer?" Rob asked me.

"You know, I don't know. I never actually had to swim before." I said to him.

"Well one of my friends has a pool, you can learn there so you will be ready when we go to the beach." He told me.

"The beach! You live on the ocean!" I might have gotten too excited. I was born in Anchorage and during the summer me and my siblings would go to the beach and run on the sand along Knik Arm, a water way just off of Cook Inlet.

"Well I don't live in a coastal town but we can go on a week end." He said.

"That would be cool. We need to wake up Nathan." I said. "Nathan, Wake up!" I shouted, but he didn't move. He was always a heavy sleeper.

"Hold on, I know how to wake him." He said as he grabbed the empty Pringles can. He threw the can at Nathan. "WAKE UP! YOU'RE LATE FOR WORK!" Rob shouted as the can hit Nathan on the arm.

"WA! AH! What the fuck?! … Damn." Nathan said as he woke up not knowing where he was, he quickly remembered as he looked around.

"We're here" Rob said as the plane came to a stop.

"Alright." Nathan said as he looked down and grabbed the empty can. Nathan threw the can back at Rob, but Rob quickly snatched it out of the air and put it down with his bag.

As the engines shut down Mike came out of the flight deck with his jacket on. "You two are wacky." He said as he started to unlatch the door.

Rob and Nathan put their jackets on and grabbed their stuff. I met with the other Pokemon at the front of the plane waiting for the door to be opened. "You got everything?" Nathan asked Rob.

"I have my bag" Rob replied.

"Ok now everyone follow me, we are going to get off the plane and walk up the stairs of the jet way and in to the airport." Mike said as he lowered the stairs. I was the fourth one to walk out, with Rob and Nathan following behind. We went over to the stairs. Mike went up first. We all formed a line and went up almost one at a time.

When we exited the jet way we were greeted by the sounds of crowds of people and Pokemon. "So what are you going to do next?" Nathan said to Rob.

"Well Christine and I are going to go across town and go get my pay check from the trucking company. Then I'm headed back to North Carolina." Rob replied.

"My flight leaves in two hours. Do you think you can make it back by then? What time is your flight?" Nathan asked as a group of people walked by with the look of disappointment and frustration written on their faces.

* * *

January 19, 2000 5:34pm

Rob

* * *

"I don't have a flight, I drove up here." I said.

"You drove? Like, in a car?" Nathan said not wanting to believe it.

"Yah I drove." I said in response.

"I know you truckers are dedicated to what you do, but that's crazy." Nathan said. "Well I guess this is where we part ways then. Rob, promise me that you will take good care of Christine. She is a part of my family like the rest of my girls over there."

We shook hands "I will take good care of her. After I get my pay I am going right to the Poke Center and getting the registration filled out." I said.

"Just ask for a temporary registration since you got to re-register her in North Carolina." Nathan said.

"Ok, I think I will be back next year. We will stop by and hang out for a few." I said. I noticed that Christine was saying her good bye to her friends as well.

"That would be awesome. I will be waiting." Nathan said.

"Well we better go, we have a long journey ahead of us. See ya around." I said. With that Christine was by my side as we walked towards the security checkpoint exit.

* * *

More revisions, like a boss. If you're a new reader, now would be a good time to let me know what you think of the story so far. If you are already one of my fans re-reading this then more power to ya.

I am currently working on the next chapter. Stay tuned.


	5. End of the World Intermission

End of the World Intermission

December 21, 2012

* * *

Story related. Not part of the storyline. Can be skipped.

* * *

The following is a commercial sales broadcast on WQED.

Rob – "Thank you all so much for joining us for the countdown to death! We have many fine products to help you celebrate our success and the end of the world. So here we are tonight to—pan the camera out."

Earl (camera man)- [whisper] "What?"

Rob signals to Earl to pan the camera out and the camera shakes. Rob - [whisper] "I can see what you're doing using that TV over there, pan out."

Earl - [whisper] "How do it do?"

Rob walks off screen [whisper] "Use this button to zoom in"

Earl - [whisper] "Ok."

Rob - [whisper] "This one zooms out."

Earl - [whisper] "Got it." The camera pans out and shows a table with a lot of stuff on it and sitting on the right side is Christine. Rob runs back on to the screen and behind the table.

Rob – "The first item we are selling today are these collectible 'I survived the end of the world' T-shirts, the hat is sold separately. They are available in small medium and large sizes. Call in to make the orders at the number that is shown at the bottom of the screen. I know most of you who are watching this have been hitting the drink for the past few hours, so if you can remember your name and address have your credit card handy so we can make the orders as quickly as possible. Jason is over at the phone to take your calls."

Christine – "Let's make them a deal, first ten callers get the hat free with the shirt!"

Rob – "Ok, we got our first caller. Hello."

Caller - "First off, I love the story."

Rob – "Thanks"

Caller – "So the hat is free with the shirt?"

Rob – "Yea."

Caller – "Awesome."

Christine – "Stay on the line; we are going to send you over to Jason who will take you information."

Rob holds up the shirt. "As you can see on the back there is the date."

Christine – "Our next items is for all of you who don't think you will survive and are scared of zombies! It is this nail bat."

Rob – "That's right a nail bat! It's like a normal bat but with big spikes driven through it, a classic weapon for fighting off the hordes! We are selling this for low price of 50 bucks each. So if your ever cornered by zombies you can take this bat and" WHAM! Rob Hits the bat on to the table and gets it stuck. "hit them with it! Christine, take over while I fix this."

Christine – "That's just one of the many great products we are offering here tonight! Let's take a call. Hello caller you're on the air."

Caller – "Christine, you are the cutest thing ever. Can I buy you?"

Christine – "No, sorry I am not for sale."

Caller – "Aww… Well anyway. How are you doing tonight?"

Christine – "I am doing well."

Caller – "So I see Christine bobble heads there next to you. Are you selling those?"

Christine – "We will be selling those later tonight."

Caller – "Ok cool."

Rob – "Ok I got it. We will move on to the next item now. This is my Master of Reality shirt that I messed up when I crashed at the beginning of the story. There is a limited quantity of one. I am asking 40 dollars for it."

Christine – "Who the hell would buy that?"

Jason – "We have a buyer."

Rob – "People will buy anything if the price is right. So have those credit cards ready!"

Christine – "The next item is sure to be a crowd pleaser! We have these 6 inch high plastic bobble heads of me."

Rob – "That's right, bobble heads. Put them on a shelf. Put them on the dash board of your car. Send them as gifts this holiday season! Or use them to creep out your girlfriend. But don't put them in a microwave, and I am going to show you why! [whisper] Get me a microwave."

Christine – [whisper]"This doesn't seem like a good idea."

Rob – [whisper]"It will be fine, this is going to be cool."

Jason puts a microwave down on the table and goes and plugs it in.

Rob – "Ok so we got a microwave and now we open it, put the thing inside, shut the door. Ok and now we set the time for… uhhh… 1 minute and 9 sconds. That brings up to a total of 69 seconds. And start."

Christine – "As you can see we got some sparks and AH!" Christine jumps off the table as the microwave bursts in to flames. Jason rushes over and uses a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.

Rob – "When that bobble head cools off we will sell it as a special edition for half price. [whisper] See I told you that it would be cool."

Earl – [whisper] "They said we could rent the studio for an hour, not trash the place."

Rob – "Since we only have an hour we need to move on to our last two products. This is the 'welcome back Jesus mug' mug. It is in the shape of the wood that Jesus was nailed to when he first died. This is to celebrate the apocalypse and Jesus or something or other. You got coffee you want to drink but you don't have a mug? Well you can buy one here!"

Christine – "Well, yes it has the picture of Jesus on it. We got a caller."

Caller – "I am highly offended that you are trying to sell Jesus to people an-" Hang-up.

Rob – "Sorry about that everyone, prank caller. The next items we are selling are these Glaceon mud flaps. Put them on your truck. Or you can put them on your car and pretend it's a truck!"

Christine – "What the fuck! That is the stupidest shit I have ever seen!"

The screen cuts to a test pattern.

* * *

This is not part of the story. This is just a random idea I thought of in like five minutes and fine-tuned as I went on.


	6. Crosstown Traffic

Crosstown Traffic

Rob

January 19, 2000 5:42pm

* * *

We walked past the security check point and there was sign declaring that we could not re-enter after passing this point. The security lines were long enough as it is, I would hate to see how long they would get if security got any tighter. We were heading towards the exit when someone called my name. It sounded as if they were in a hurry.

"I am… so glad… that… I caught up… with you." Nathan said as he was standing behind me out of breath and he was also having trouble talking because of it. He was in front of me now because I turned around to face him.

"What happened?" I asked him as if something went wrong.

"My flight got canceled." He said.

"Well that sucks." I said.

"There is an ice storm that is about to hit Portland in the next few hours and they won't have the runways cleared until late tomorrow. But the next scheduled flight out of here isn't until next week. So I was wondering if you could take us there, it's not too far out of your way." Nathan said as his Pokemon caught up with him, they seemed to be in no hurry.

"Well…" I thought about it.

"That's a deep subject." Nathan said as I thought. Actually first I thought about how awful that joke is. Then I thought about my current travel plans.

"I am going to re-enter the United States in Washington State. Portland is not too much out of the way once I have made that far. If you can pitch in for gas then we've got a deal." I said.

"I'll go find a MAC machine. Everyone stay here with Rob and Christine, I will be back." Nathan said as he went off to get the money for the trip. I looked down and all the Pokemon were staring at me as looking for guidance.

"Let's go stand over by the wall so we are out of people's way." I started walking and they started following. I made it to the side. Nathan as across the large room at the MAC machine getting cash out of it, He walked back across the room. "I just thought of something." I said to him.

"What's that?" Nathan said back.

"I got no transportation across town; Christine and I were just going to walk." I said as remembered what he said about the cold temperatures. "How far is the Poke Center?" I was looking for some kind of half-way point.

"The Poke Center is on the corner of 12th Ave and Gaffney Rd." Nathan said.

"That's all the way on the east side of town. I need to get to the north by the rail yard." I said.

"Well… Do you know anyone who might be able to give us a lift to the depot?" Nathan said. That gives me an idea.

"What if I went out in to the parking lot to try and find someone who will give us a ride?" I said.

"Here's $50 go make it happen." Nathan said as he slipped out $50 from the stack of cash he has in his hand. Who wouldn't want $50 to drive a few miles; this was going to be easy. I walked out the sliding doors and to my surprise Christine was right with me.

"Why didn't you stay with the others?" I asked.

"I like it out here." She replied.

I walked across the street to the parking lot. It was full of cars but devoid of life. I continued to look around. In the corner I saw something move around next to a 1986 Toyota Dolphin motorhome. I walked in that direction. I saw what looked like a Pokemon walk out of the door and then the other one stood up. As I got closer I got a better look at them. I was a Sceptile and a Lucario. The Lucario was holding a tire iron and gave it to the Sceptile. The Lucario went to the back of the motorhome and started to get the spare tire off the back.

I got close. "It looks like you got a flat." The Lucario looked at me.

"I already know what you want." A male voice in my head said.

I stopped right there. "I will go and ask Will and see what he thinks." The Lucario said in English.

"You know how to talk too?" Christine said. The Lucario walked over and bent down and picked up Christine. "Hey! Put me down!"

"Interesting, you're not physic. How do you know how to talk?" Lucario said as Christine struggled to break free.

"I learned the hard way, now put me down!" Christine yelled.

"I see." Lucario said as he put her down.

The Lucario walked over to the door on the motorhome and by this time the Sceptile got the tire off. He was shivering and walked past Lucario and inside. "Will, someone is here to see you." The Lucario said and then a Zoroark leaned out of the door way. "Go get Will, this is important." Lucario told Zoroark.

Zoroark nodded in response and slipped back inside of the motorhome. I heard some voices inside for a moment before a man came to the door way. He was clearly taller than me and had a black leather jacket with a matching cowboy hat, and dark blue jeans to complete the look. "Howdy, names Will. What can I do for ya?" He asked from the door way.

"My friend and I are stuck at the airport and we need to get across town. We have a few Pokemon so-" I was interrupted.

"You see that tire over there? How about you put it up on the rotor for me and I will take yall cross town." He said. "I see you got yourself a Glaceon. You don't see to many around here, or anywhere."

"Yah, I got her in an adoption. I will be heading over to the Poke Center later to fill out the forms." I said as I rolled the new tire over to the rotor. I have changed many tires before, from my own to my friends so this was going to take no time at all. I got my gloves out of my pocket and put them on then grabbed the tire and lifted it up on to the rotor. It was heavy, but not as heavy as a semi-truck tire. "Just put the old tire on the back, there" Will said as he pointed towards the back of the motorhome.

"Christine." She looked at me. "Go get Nathan and tell him we found a ride" I said to her.

"Alright." She replied and she went off through the parking lot back to the airport terminal.

I got the tire lined up and with one last shove it was on the spokes. The lug nuts were right there on the ground. I started putting them on one by one and turned them until they were touching the tire. Once I was done with that I grabbed the tire iron off the ground and started to tighten them down. Going in a star pattern around the spokes to make sure the tire went on straight and wasn't crooked.

That's when Nathan and the group showed up. "What's up?" Nathan asked me.

"Take that tire and put it on the back." I said as I pointed to the flat tire.

As Nathan rolled the flat to the back of the motorhome I turned my attention to the jack. After a few seconds the motorhome was sitting on its new tire and ready to go. I picked up the medium sized jack and went to the door. Knocking on the door I was greeted with "Come on in." Said by Will. I opened the door and walked inside. All of Nathan's Pokemon followed me inside.

The RV looked bigger on the outside. The inside is full of cardboard boxed that appeared to be full of stuff. There was a bed in the back that had boxed on the left side and a small space cleared out to sleep on the right. In that spot was a Samurott sleeping. Will was sitting in the driver seat going over a map with an Arcanine. Zoroark was standing right next to me digging through a small box that was sitting on the counter of the kitchen area. He seemed to be looking for something important.

There was a loud beeping sound and Sceptile was at the microwave pulling out some food that he heated up. He went over to the kitchen table and sat down and started eating. There was a couch across from me. Lucario was sitting on it with a Gardevoir laying on it with her head on his lap, using it as a pillow.

That's when Zoroark asked me something, I could tell by the tone but I wasn't sure what he asked. "What did he say?" I was looking at Christine for an answer, but before she could speak Lucario said "He wants to know if you have a light. He can't find his."

That's when I noticed that Zoroark was holding a cigarette. "No sorry, I don't have my lighter with me." I replied. Zoroark sighed and went to Arcanine who was sitting up front. That's when Nathan walked in.

"Ok, the tire is all secure. I got the cover back on" He said as he shut the door.

Zoroark, now happy with his cigarette, took the jack and the tire iron I was holding off my hands and put them away. "So yall can sit where ever there is room." Will said as he looked at Gardevoir to stop hogging the couch. She got up and went to the kitchen area. I sat down on the couch next to Lucario and Nathan sat next to me. The rest of our Pokemon gathered at our feet. Christine jumped up right in between me and Nathan and laid down.

"So. Where are yall headed?" Will turned to us and asked.

"We are going to Tim's Trucking depot. It's on the corner of Phillips Field Road and Pioneer Road. The quickest way to get there is to take the Johansen Expressway." I said.

Will finished folding up the map and put it in the glove compartment. The engine was already running. It is hot in here so it was running for a while. Will dropped the gear in to reverse and started backing out of the parking spot. The rear window was blocked by some of the boxes so it was like my truck. You had to rely on your mirrors to see behind you. At least he didn't have a 53 foot long box behind him.

When he got out of the spot he put it in to drive and went through the parking lot, looking for the exit. He pulled up to that looked like a toll gate. And rolled down the window and handed the man in the booth some money. After getting back some change the gate opened and he pulled out and merged on to the road in front of the airport.

We were now on the road known as Airport Way. It goes from the airport and in to downtown Fairbanks and then merges with the Steese Highway on the east side of town.

"You want to look for University Ave." I said to Will

"This one right here?" He said as we approached the exit for the Robert Mitchell Expressway.

"No, keep going. It's like when you start to get in to town." I said

About a minute later. "The sign tells me to take a left." Will said as we approached a busy intersection.

"yah, take a left." I said back.

"You sure do know your way around here." Will said.

"Well I work for Tm's Trucking and I do a lot of local delivery" I replied.

"You drive truck? You look a bit young to be driving truck."

He was right I did look too young to be driving a truck. Anyone who saw me thought that I was just a rookie and that I didn't know what I was doing. But I had my CDL to prove them wrong.

"I have been truck driving for years. Mostly down in the lower half of the country. This is my second year up in Alaska." I said.

We crossed the bridge over the frozen water if the Chena River.

Espeon suddenly jumped up on to the lap of Lucario. She faced him and they seemed to be staring each other down for about thirty seconds. Lucario, out of nowhere started busting up laughing. "That, that was the worst. Why?" Lucario said between his laughter. "I hope you use that in battle. That's a great advantage. Good stuff." He said as he finally calmed down.

We were all looking at him by this point. Nathan was the only one to speak. "She got you with the mind tricks, didn't she?" He asked.

"If you want to call it that, then yes she did." Lucario said as he pet the Espeon on the head.

"Hay, this says Johansen Expressway." Will said.

"Ya, take that all the way to the exit for College road." I said as the light before us turned green.

"Nathan?" I said to him.

"Yah?" He replied

"I think we should get something to eat before we leave town." I said

"That sounds like a good idea, what did you have in mind?" Nathan said.

"I don't know, I'll think of something. We will go do that after I get my pay." I said.

"You still got to go to the Poke Center." He reminded me.

"I will, but I'm hungry and I am sure you and the Pokemon are too." I said

"We are. All I packed was some clothes and some other stuff. No food." He said.

"Ok, well, I got a lot of candy and stuff in my bag for later." I said

"alright." Nathan said.

We went off the exit for College Road.

"You want to go like you're going in to town. But take a right and head down Illinois Street. When you see Phillips Field Road, go on it and look for the big sign that reads Tim's Trucking. It should be on your left." I said as I went over the directions in my head.

"Ok, you're the boss." Will said.

I looked out the window behind me. "Dude, I know what I want to eat." I said to Nathan.

"What's that?" Nathan said.

"Look." I told him as I started to point.

"Aww yah, man." Was all he could say as he looked as well.

We pulled up in front of the entrance to the trucking depot. "Well this is where yall get off." Will said as he shifted the motorhome in to park.

"Thanks for the lift." Nathan said as he stood up.

I took the wad of tens that totaled to 50 bucks out of my pocket and handed it to Will. He flipped though it and gave some back to me. "You keep the rest, this is for the gas." He said. He took 30 dollars and gave me back 20. By now Nathan was letting the Pokemon out of the motorhome and in to the cold.

I grabbed my bag off the floor and put the money in my pocket and walked out the door. I shut the door as I stepped on to the ground. Will started to drive away. "Alright. Let's go inside, I got to talk to Tim. I said as we started walking across the dark parking lot being careful not to slip on any ice.


	7. Final Preparations

Final Preparations

Christine

January 19, 2000 6:36pm

* * *

We are all walked close to each other. Rob was ahead of us and Nathan was behind us. I was on the outside of the group. I am on the left side and Dentyne was on the right side with everyone else in the center. "Watch out." Rob said. This was a warning we should have taken more seriously and should have broken formation. I don't think any of will ever know who slipped first but in a matter of seconds we were all down and piled in to each other.

I wasn't in pain. I poked my head up to see what happened. We were on ice that was for sure. It was hard to see at night but I was sure I was partly on top of someone. I could hear Nathan and Rob laughing at the sight. They started to help a few of us back on to their paws. I was able to stand up with a few of them and walk myself out of the mess. All the talk right now is either everyone asking the others if they are ok or trying to find out who slipped first.

I hopped up on to the curb. "Are you ok?" I asked Heather as she walked up on to the side walk.

"Yah, I'm fine. I slid right in to the back of Jenny." She said as Jenny walked up to us.

"Let's get going, its freezing out here." Jenny said as he made her way inside the building. Rob was holding the door open so we all could go inside.

"Well it looks like you three made it." Dana said. She was sitting on a bench to my right. Sitting next to her was Lily. Following behind us was Cassandra and Dentyne and then finally Nathan entered and shut the door. I jumped up on to the bench along with a few others and Nathan sat down beside me.

"I'm back, Tim." Rob said as he looked over a counter on the opposite side of the room.

"I am glad to see you made it back in one piece. Looks like you made some new friends while you were away." A voice said from behind the counter in front of us.

Rob put his bag down on the floor next to the bench. "Well I decided to see what it would be like to own a Pokemon." Rob said as Tim walked out from behind the counter.

"Looks like you got a bit to many, don't ya think?" Tim said.

"Well only one of them is mine. The rest belong to Nathan" Nathan gave a small wave when Rob said his name. "I am taking him to Portland Oregon so he and his Pokemon can go compete in the state competition."

"I know you got a long journey ahead of you. I also hate to be sending you home in the middle of winter but no truck, no work. Sorry I don't have any replacements. I will accept the fault of my bad timing on a job like that one. I should have called you earlier than I did. Now I would like to give you your money and send you on your way but, the insurance company won't accept the claim without this." Tim hands Rob a small plastic cup with a lid.

"You have got to be kidding me." Rob said.

"If you want to keep that fancy license of yours then the law requires you to have a drug test after any crash. The test is usually done right after the crash but since you were in the middle of nowhere when you crashed, you are to be tested now." Tim said to Rob.

With that being said Rob made his way down the hallway to the right of the room we were all in. Tim walked over to where we were sitting. "So one of these is Rob's? Let me guess. Well there are two that look the same, so it's got to be one of these two." Dentyne was sitting below me on the floor. She looked up at me and I looked down at her. Then we both looked at Tim. "Well that one is sitting on the floor and not up there with you so I am going to guess that one." Tim said as he pointed to Dentyne.

"Nope, I am Rob's. And we do not look the same!" I jumped down off the bench and sat next to Dentyne. "See. We don't look the same at all. We're not even related." I said.

"You're like three inches taller then she is. As for Rob, I don't know what he is like when he's not working. But last season he seemed eager to haul some rather dangerous loads that nobody else seemed to want. So don't let your guard down around him until you truly know him." Tim said. Before I could say anything Nathan said "Well is he qualified to do that?"

"Yes, he is. He has explosive and hazmat qualifications. That's what I was talking about earlier when I said 'fancy license'. I trust him fully with those loads. But he seems like he likes to jump right in to danger." Tim said as he went back behind the counter.

"All done. I left the thing in the bathroom on the sink." He said as he returned.

"Alright, I got your pay right here. As for the other check I can give you some of it now. I will send you the rest once the insurance company has a look at things." Tim said as he handed Rob a slip of paper.

"Do you mind if some of the Pokemon hang out here for a minute while me and Nathan go get the van ready? They can't be out in the cold for too long." Rob said to Tim.

"No, I don't mind." Tim said as looked at us. "So what kind of van is it?"

"It is a 1984 Ford Econoline" Rob said.

"Riding in style I see, you know if gas prices keep climbing the way they are you might need to trade it in for something newer." Tim said.

"We will see about that." Rob said as he made his way towards the door "Christine lets go."

I jumped down from the bench and headed out the door. Nathan called for Dentyne and Heather and then followed us outside.

"I am parked in the side lot. I don't know if we will need to dig out a path in the snow to get out." Rob said as we walked along the side of the building on the sidewalk. The further I walked the more I noticed that my paws were not leaving the snow as I walked. We stopped and I looked at Rob. He was digging through his pants pockets. He pulled some keys. He unlocked one of the back doors of a red van and then with the sound of cracking ice he pulled the door open and went inside. With another cracking noise he opened the side doors. Both of them are on the right side of the van.

"Nathan have your Pokemon dig out a path so I can get out. Whoever plowed the lot blocked me in with snow." Rob said as Nathan made his way to the side doors. "Here take this, scrape the ice of the front window. I am going to start up the engine and get it warmed up" Rob handed Nathan an ice scraper.

"Ok, will do. Heather, Dentyne I need you both to dig out the snow bank in front of the van." That's all I heard Nathan say. I was still standing there on the side walk behind the van so I decided to enter after seeing Rob walk out the side door as well.

I jumped up in to the open back door and am now inside the van. It is dark all around and the strong smell of skunk and french fries lingers in the air. The only sources of light are the three open doors, the one behind me and the ones in front of me to the right. Something about being in a metal box made it seem colder in here then it was out there. It was the same temperature; it was just my mind playing tricks on me. I stepped forward and bumped my left front paw in to something hard. There was only a small amount of pain. I tried to look around but it was too dark to see anything.

"Christine, there you are. I was looking for you." Rob said as he appeared in the side entrance. He reached up and felt around on the ceiling for something. "Damn." Rob said as a sound of a flicking switch could be heard. I found out that I could walk over the ledge that I ran in to earlier. When I stepped up I sank in to something soft. I quickly realized that I was walking on a bed. By now Rob was sitting in the driver seat. I heard the sound of keys. "Shit!" Was all Rob managed to say. Then there was that sound of cracking ice again.

I hopped down from the bed now I was standing in the dim light of the door way that was next to me. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"The battery is dead. I am going to need to find my jumper cables." Rob said as he rolled down the window.

"Maybe Jenny could help?" I said as I walked over and stood in between the seats and looked up at him.

"Isn't Jenny the fire one?" Rob asked as he finished rolling down the window.

"No, she is the electric one." I said.

"That might work. Hay, Nathan!" He yelled his name as he waved out the window. Nathan walked over from the other side.

"I was getting the snow off the hood before I work on the windshield. So, what's up?" He asked.

"The battery is dead and Christine suggested that Jenny could help jump it." Rob said as a clunky spring noise could be heard from the hood along with ice cracking. It seemed that under the snow was a thin layer of ice everywhere. Rob opened the driver door partially before it hit the snow and couldn't be opened any further. He then managed to slip out through it and close it.

I made my way out the side door and around to the front. They had the hood up now.

* * *

Rob

January 19, 2000 6:53pm

* * *

"It needs a steady 12 volt current. Can she do 12 volts?" I asked Nathan.

"Well she has been working on controlling her volt output. So this might work." Nathan said.

Christine was now standing behind me. We were standing in front of the van in the clearing that Nathan's Pokemon dug out. The van now had a clear path from where it is parked to the rest of the parking lot. I walked up and over the snow embankment and over to the side doors and closed them. As I slammed the last door shut I jumped back quickly to avoid a falling pile of snow. The snow fell off the roof of the van. I met up with Nathan and Christine around the back on the sidewalk. I shut the back door and started walking back around the building.

Nathan went ahead of me and in to the building first. "How did it go?" Tim asked me as I entered behind Nathan.

"It didn't work, I got a dead battery. But we got a plan to jump it." I said.

"What's your plan?" Tim asked as Nathan went over to his Pokemon and started talking to them.

"We are going to have Jenny jump the battery." Nathan said before I could speak. Nathan was petting Jenny on the head.

"That sounds risky, just remember to connect to the negative last and disconnect it first. And most important, don't break contact." Tim said with a stern tone.

"Well she is not going to have a current when she first touches the terminals so does the order mater?" I said.

"I guess not, just be careful when coming off. It will be a live battery then." Tim said.

"Well if things go wrong, you will be the first to know." I said as we headed back out the door.

Jenny followed behind the other Pokemon. She was keeping to the path they laid out by walking through the snow. We soon got back to my van and went over to the hood that I left open. Nathan and I had our winter jackets on and the other three Pokemon were adapted to cold temperatures. It was about -40 degrees Fahrenheit tonight. So we had to work quickly and make this work right the first time so I could get the engine heated up and I could get the heater on.

Without wasting any time Nathan picked up Jenny and placed her on the thin strip of metal that made up the top of the side panel, the part that the hood rests on when it is closed. I got next to Jenny so she wouldn't fall off. "Nathan, I am going to need you to crank it when I tell you to crank it." I told Nathan as I handed my keys over to him.

"Jenny, listen to Rob. He knows what to do." Nathan said as he opened the driver door and got in.

"Ok, this is the battery. It is dead. These are the terminals. This one is positive and this one is negative." I said as I pointed them out on the battery.

"Jol." Jenny said.

"I don't understand." I said.

"She said 'ok'." Christine said.

"Ok, thanks." I replied

"What you want to do is put one paw here and the other on the negative and then send a small electrical current through it when I say to do so." I said. She put her pawn on the terminals. I backed away. She was now standing on the battery and grounded with her back paws on the metal side panel.

"Alright, good, now while you're giving the current Nathan is going to start the engine. When this happened do not take your paws off of the battery. I will let you know when to stop giving the juice." I said. The driver window was already down so Nathan could hear me. "Nathan do you have the key in the ignition?" I asked.

"Yah, I do." He said.

"Ok, do your thing Jenny." I watched as her spikes of hair started to sick up and a slight buzzing noise could be heard.

"Alright, crank it." I said. Then nothing happened. "Are you doing it?" I asked.

"Yah, I am." Nathan said.

"Stop dude. Jenny." She turned her head to face me.

"Give it a little more power. I didn't think you could go that low." The buzzing noise got slightly louder.

"Crank it now." It turned over and started up with an awful squealing sound.

"Jenny, stop. You're done." I said.

"What the hell is that noise?" Nathan said.

"That's the fan belt. I forgot it was like that. It will get quieter when I shut the hood. I will give it some oil when I get some. But I need to get one of the pulleys replaced." I said as Nathan got out of the van.

Nathan took Jenny off of the hood and placed her on the ground. Her hair was still up but she was shaking from the cold. I shut the hood and walked over to the other side of the van and opened the side doors and walked inside. I felt around on the ceiling and found the light switch and flicked it on. "Nathan, there are some blankets over there on the bed, wrap Jenny up in them. I will work on getting the heat working."


	8. Heating Up

Heating Up

Christine

January 19, 2000 7:18pm

* * *

Nathan quickly closed the side doors once we were all inside, the squealing of the engine became a lot less noticeable. Now that I was inside and the lights were on I could see that this wasn't the cleanest of places. The blankets were all over the place, most of them were on the bed but some were hanging over the edge and on to the floor. There were a few empty soda cans along with various chip bags and other discarded snack wrappers along the opposite wall across from the door. The air had a bit of a funk to it,

It wasn't bad enough to make me want to leave but it was noticeable. Despite the mess it looked comfortable as hell. The seats up front look like recliners, they are big and overstuffed. Earlier when I was walking across the bed I felt like I was sinking in to it. Even the dark blue padding that lined the bottom half of the walls looked comfy.

Nathan grabbed one of the blankets and put it around Jenny and set her on the bed. "T-t-t-too c-cold…" She said as she shivered under a mass of blankets.

"What?" I said as my attention returned.

"H-how do y-yy-you do it?" Jenny asked.

"How do I do what?" I replied.

"S-s-s-s-stand the c-c-cold." She said.

I looked over at Dentyne who was sitting next to Jenny for an answer. She just gave me a confused look and shrugged.

"Well… you see… ahhh…" I began to say.

"Ya got some meat on ya bones!" Heather said as she walked up from behind me. I quickly turned around.

"Did you just call me fat?" I said to Heather.

"No, just a little chubby." She said with a smirk.

"I am not chubby! I run around town every day! I might not be as strong as you but at least I am not as fat as you are, blubber butt!" I yelled.

"'Blubber butt?' That's all you got to say? At least I have a reason to be kept warm outside." She said as she laughed.

"Put your damn tail down! No one wants to see that!" Dentyne yelled "Jenny?"

"What..? Oh yah.., do the thing!" Jenny yelled

!

I quickly snapped my tail between my legs and turned around. Jenny has disappeared under the mass of covers. Dentyne had a blank stare at the mass of covers Jenny had retreated under. It was truly a look of confusion. The covers were not moving, there was no shivering, only silence. I had to get away from this creepiness. I walked to the front of the van were Rob and Nathan were sitting.

* * *

Rob

January 19, 2000 7:21pm

* * *

"The bank is closed so I am not going to have more than $50 until we get back in the country." I said to Nathan who was sitting across from me in the passenger seat.

"Well I can pay for food. I have $500 in cash." Nathan said.

"No, I will pay for the food because once we get out of the country my credit card won't do us any good until I call the company." I said knowing that if I use the card the company will put a lock on it unless I call them and let them know that I am going to be traveling. Because I am going home earlier than expected they will think someone stole my card and went to Canada.

"So I guess I am going to be paying for gas in Canada then." Nathan said as Christine walked up.

"Hay, Christine, what's up?" I asked.

"Nothing…" She said.

"Well we were just discussing who's going to pay for what." I said as I slid the lever on the heat controller all the way to hot. Then I slid over the control lever so air barely came out of the vents. The air was still cold, as cold as the night. Why was the dark so frigid? Was it because there was no light to bring the warmth? The warmth we crave so badly when it's below freezing. It could be this winter, this icy season. This time of year is way colder than it ever needs to be. It was because of this, that the air was so unfriendly.

"So, how's Jenny doing?" Nathan asked.

"She's fine!" Christine snapped.

"Ok… Well, let's get this thing moving. It will get warmer faster if I use it." I said as I flicked on the headlights and dropped the gear in to drive and waited a second for the transmission to kick. There was a sharp bump as we went over the remains of the snow bank.

"Christine, you seem like something is bothering you." I said as I drove around to the front of the building.

"… I'm fine."

"You know if something is on your mind, let me know." I said

"Well it's… a… messy back here. You got junk lying around all over the place." She said. Normally I am alone and just throw my stuff wherever and throw it out later. Now I have a Pokemon to take care of so I got to try and be a bit more responsible for my actions.

"I will clean it up when we stop to get something to eat. Ok?" I told her.

"Ok." She said.

We stopped in front of the building and put it in park. By now the heat has started to work and the temperature is slowly getting warmer. "You ready?" I asked Nathan as I put my gloves back on.

"Yah, let's go." He said as he opened the passenger side door.

"Christine, don't let anything blow up. We'll be right back." I aid as I made my way out of the van. I left the engine running so the heat would keep working. I walked up to the front door of the building and heard a noise from within. I looked through the window on the door and saw a piece of paper get incinerated in midair. "What the hell is going on in here!?" I yelled as I went through the door.

"Ah, your back. We were just getting rid of some old papers." Tim said as he threw another piece of paper in the air and Flareon shot a stream of fire out of her mouth and hit the paper. "That Flareon has a good range." Tim went on to say.

"Well, all of them have been training very hard for an upcoming tournament next week." Nathan said.

"And we got to get going so he can be there on time." I said.

"So, Rob, you're just going to take the money and run off and become a Pokemon master now?" Tim said.

"No, that's Nathans job. I just want to go home and sit on my ass and eat Tostitos." I said as we started to lead the Pokemon out the door.

"So you really are lazy as hell." Tim said as he held the door open for the last of the Pokemon.

"Only during NASCAR season." I said with a laugh.

I walked around to the back of the van and opened the doors. The van is low enough to the ground that they all just jumped in one after another. I t sounded like they were all greeting each other. Christine sounded happy again, she seems fun when she is in a good mood. Nathan stepped in first and then I followed, closing the door behind me as I entered. I turned around and closed the other one. We slowly made out way towards the front of the van. Watching where we steep so we don't steep on a Pokemon. They were all on the bed looking for warmth in the covers and talking amongst each other.

I flicked off the light on the ceiling and everything went dark. "Why did you do that?" Christine asked.

"So I can see where I am going on the road. The light behind me can create a glare on the windshield and then I won't be able see out of it." I explained. I sat down in the driver seat. I turned around in my seat to look at the group. "Who's hungry?" I asked. They seem to be talking to Christine now.

"We're are all hungry." Christine said.

"Let's go get something to eat." I said as I put the gear in to drive. It may be dark and crowded in here, but it's no longer freezing.


	9. Feed the Beast

Feed the Beast

Rob

January 19, 2000 7:36pm

* * *

Before we could begin our journey along narrow roads and dangerous pathways through the vast wilderness of Alaska and the Yukon Territory, there were two things that needed to be done. One of them was to stop at the Poke Center and get the required documentation needed to own Christine. But right all of us had one thing on our minds, food. I haven't eaten since lunch time and that wasn't much so I am starving.

"Since I am paying for the food I am getting us the 8 piece bucket and we can each have 4." I said.

"Well I want some mashed potato also." Nathan said.

"That comes with the meal, also some biscuits, and dude I love biscuits." I said keeping my hands on the wheel and my eyes on the road.

"We need to get the Pokemon something boneless." Nathan said.

"They have boneless chicken strips. I can get two 12 piece orders and they can share it." I said as I turned north on to Illinois Street.

By this point all the Pokemon were no longer sitting on the bed. They have all moved to the front. They were behind our seats and Christine was right in between us. We are all hungry and our food was across the street.

We crossed over College Rd and once we were past the intersection we were on Bentley Trust Rd. I made a quick left turn and entered a parking lot of a KFC.

Looking around the place seemed deserted. But the lights were on so I found the closest empty parking space to the door. Since there were only five cars in the parking lot, this was not hard. I parked in the normal parking space right next to the handicap parking space by the door. When I turned off the headlights so they were no longer shining on the glass in front of me, I could see that there were a few people in the place with their Pokemon.

"Alright, let's go" I said as I turned off the engine and pulled the key out, then got out of my seat and went around to the back. Being careful not to step on any of the Pokemon, they moved out of the way as I placed my foot forward, I made it to the side doors and opened them up.

Nathan went over to his bag that was places next to my bag on the floor opposite the side doors I just opened. He dug around in the bag and pulled out a large metal bowl. There was no question what it was used for; it was a Pokemon water bowl. I already had half the Pokemon out of the van by now. My van is low enough to the ground that the Pokemon can use the running board as a step if they need help getting in or out. Nathan zipped up his bag and got out behind the group.

Nathan quickly walked around the group and held one of the restaurant doors open. I opened the other one. "Thanks." Christine said to me as she walked in.

"Welcome." I replied. We defiantly got a strange look from the man standing behind the counter. Some people are lucky enough to have just one eeveelution. But here we were walking in to a KFC with an entire squad of them, and one of them being able to speak English as well. It is now chicken time. I walked up to the counter to place my order. Since there were only a few people in there, there was no line at the counter.

* * *

Christine

January 19, 2000 7:48pm

* * *

"Sorry about what happened earlier, but I figured it would have worked." Heather said.

I would love to just freeze her where she stands right now, but we are in a public place and if I was to act out we all would get thrown out and she knows it. I looked around and found Jenny near the back of the group. She seemed to be staring off in to space. I decided to walk over and talk to her.

"Are you feeling ok?" I asked. She just walked away. She was stopped by Dana.

After about a second she turned around and said "Yah… I'm fine…"

"I know you don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it either, but this may be the last time we see each other. So let's put this past us and just have a good time, ok?" I said. And this could be it. This could be the last time I hang out with my friends before I go off and start a new life. I want to enjoy this. I want us all to enjoy this little bit of extra time we have together. But there is a chance that after this we may see each other again. That's what's pulling me through this rough time.

"Ok." She said with a smile. I knew she was thinking the same.

"Now, I am going to find out where the food is." I told everyone. I was starving. "Hay, Rob, where is the food?" I asked sounding a little demanding.

"I got it. Let's find a place to eat." He said as he walked with the food over to a table and put the food down. We all followed him over to the table. Nathan was across the room filling up the water bowl. Rob got a drink cup and went over to where Nathan was. By now Nathan was walking over with the water dish. Nathan put the dish down and some immediately crowded around it. I decided to wait until there was a free spot before I went and got a drink.

"I got a lot of napkins" Rob said as he sat down across from Nathan on the other side of the table.

"Why you do that?" Nathan asked.

"So they have something to eat off of, it's better than the floor." Rob said.

"Good point. I was just going to hold it for them as they ate it." Nathan said as he got out a few pieces of chicken.

"That would have taken forever. I don't want to be here all night. I want to be in Haines Junction by noon tomorrow." Rob said.

We were each given one piece of chicken on a napkin. I have never eaten at a place like this before. I was always served home cooked meals every night. I looked at the piece of chicken before me. It gave off a strong scent and was steaming as well. I got closer to it and gave it a strong sniff and then took a bite. It tasted ok, so I started to devour the rest of it. When I was done I was given a second piece. It seems like we all got a second piece. You would think that there would be some talking, but no, everyone's face was shoved in to their food. There would be plenty of time to talk later, but for now it was time to grab a drink.

"Rob, whatcha ya drinkin?" I asked in a bit of a cute tone.

"I am drinking Pepsi. Want some?" He said.

"Sure!" I said happily. He lowered the cup down to my level.

There was nowhere for the drink to come out. The cup had a top on it. It did, however have a long and narrow tube sticking out of the top of it.

"Dude, what are you doing? You should probably take the lid off if you're going to do that." Nathan spoke up.

"Hold on, she will figure it out." Rob was right; I was beginning to get it. You got to put the tube in your mouth to make it work. After trying a few things I finally got the drink. It was no water, it was like super water. Only it wasn't water. It made me feel good. It made me happy. It made me feel… a bit sick…. I am no longer feeling good and happy. I immediately stopped drinking it.

"Christine, are you feeling ok?" Rob said. But I was too busy feeling like I want to vomit to give a clear answer.

"I…done…uhhh…." *MMMMAAAANNN BBBBBEEEEELLLLLCCCCHHHHHHHHH !*

o.o

Everyone in the place fell silent. All eyes were on me.

"Nice~" A voice from behind me said in a very sarcastic tone. There was also some laughter going on behind me. I was feeling highly embarrassed, but physically fine now. The laughter seemed to pick up a bit. When I turned around there was Lily on her back laughing. She was kicking her legs up and rolling around a bit. We were all watching her now. Slowly we each started to laugh at Lily, who by now looked ridiculous. Rob and Nathan joined in as well.

"Let's get out of here." Rob said in between laughs. Nathan started to clean up the area and put any let overs in to the bag as Rob went and emptied and clean what's left in the water bowl.

"Hay, man, I got to hit the can. Cover for me until I get back." Nathan said as he got up and made his way to the bathroom.

"Alright." Rob said as he was throwing away the last of the trash.

"I got an idea, when Rob gets back. We all just stare at him." Dentyne said.

Rob sat down paying us no mind at first. He eventually looked at us and we just stared on.

"What the…" Rob said as he looked back at us. "What?" "Don't look at me like that, it's creepy." This went on for a few minutes before Nathan showed up.

"What's going on here?" Nathan asked and we all broke our stare.

"I don't know they all just started looking at me, it was the weirdest thing." Rob said as he stood up.

"One important thing about owning a Pokemon is, you can't let them get to you. You got to know when to take control." Nathan said to Rob.

"Whatever man, just get them outside. I will meet you at the van." Rob said as he went back to the bathroom.

We all followed Nathan outside and then we went down off the curb and made our way across the parking lot to a grassy area. We all had some business of our own to take care of. After fertilizing the frozen lawn we made our way back to the van. Rob returned and opened the side doors and we all went inside. Nathan shut the doors and Rob fired up the engine. We all took a spot on the bed and laid down to relax. The sound of a tire skidding and then squealing could be heard as the van hit an ice patch on the way out of the parking lot.

"So where is the Paokemon Center?" Rob asked Nathan as the glow of a red light faintly lit the inside of the van up. Rob was messing with the heater as we fought over the blankets. Well it wasent so much of a fight as it was just a few of us pulling and trying to hog the covers.

"It's at the end of 12th Ave, by the Wildlife Refuge Office." Nathan said.

"Is that by the downtown area?" Rob asked.

"Just make a left here, and go down this road to the end." Nathan said as he pointed and the light turned green. "There is a chance that the administration office might be closed." He added.

It was then that I could start to feel the heat as things started to warm up again.


	10. End of the Road?

End of the Road…?

January 19, 2000 8:34pm

Christine

* * *

"Give me some cover!" Dana yelled at Cassandra because she had the last blanket and was keeping it all to herself.

"No! This one is mine! Go get your own." Cassandra yelled back. This was a battle for comfort now that the heater was working.

"You have the last one…" Dana started whining.

"Quit your whining. Go talk to Lily over there in her impenetrable freakin fort." Heather interrupted.

"Mmmmhh muuu hmmh" Was all that could be heard from an outrageously large pile of blankets. We all turned our attention towards it. That's when Jenny grabbed one of the cover folds in her mouth and pulled it back. Lily's head popped out. "What did you do that for?"

"You need to learn how to share." Heather said as she scowled at Lily. Dana walked over and took the blanket that Jenny moved. Dentyne seemed to appear out of nowhere and take another cover for herself out of the pile.

The van bounced for a second as two thuds could be heard. One right after another. The road seemed to give off a higher pitched noise then before, almost sounded hollow. I left the comfort of my blanket and decided to take a walk up front. There was another series of thuds again and I almost fell over as the hollow sounding noise stopped. I made my way in between the two front seats and sat down on the floor. I wish I could see out the windows, but all I had was a view of the wall in front of me. Well, at least I could see Rob working the pedals.

"Get over to the right, it is a turn lane." Nathan said as a continuous clicking noise could be heard from somewhere up above. "So… Have you thought about any names for Christine?" Nathan asked.

"Names?" Rob replied.

"When you get her registered, you can change her name." Nathan said.

"Why would I do that? Who am I to change one's identity?" Rob said.

"I was just curious." Nathan responded. "You know, when I got all my Pokemon registered I gave them all my last name" He continued.

"Christine." Rob said

"Yah?" I said back

"I was just about to call you up up—How long have you been sitting there?" Rob said mashing his words together a bit.

"For a few minutes." I said.

"Christine, do you have a last name?" Rob asked me. This question was slightly off-putting.

"No… No I don't." I said as I looked down at the floor.

"Well let me know if you think of a good one." Rob said to me, not once taking his eyes off the road.

"Ok…" I said to him. I turned around and starting walking back to the others, as I was doing so I was almost brought to the ground by another shake of the van. There was now a source of light entering the windows and we were now moving much slower.

"This place doesn't look open" Nathan said.

"The lights are on." Rob said. He stopped the van and got out.

I pulled a blanket out of the pile, leaving Lily with one left, and wrapped myself up in it. Everyone remained silent as we waited to see if Rob will officially become my third owner. My mind started to think about Margret and John. How were they doing without me? Would they be alright? Would I be alright? Would everything turn out alright? There were so many questions left unanswered, but I guess only time will tell.

"Are you alright?" A voice said next to me. It was Jenny. I stopped thinking for a second and realized that I have been crying. Jenny sat down next to me. I leaned on her for support before slumping down on my front paw and laid down. She soon joined me and we laid there for a minute before Rob returned.

"The place is closed and tomorrow is Sunday so the administration office will be closed." Rob said.

"But if we leave Monday, that will make me late for my tournament." Nathan said.

"Well, shit…" Rob said.

"What do we do now?" Nathan asked.


	11. One for the Road

One for the Road

January 19, 2000 8:53pm

Rob

* * *

"But if we leave Monday, that will make me late for my tournament." Nathan said.

"Well, shit…" I said.

"What do we do now?" Nathan asked.

"We go for it." I said with confidence.

"Go for what?" Nathan said puzzled at what I just said.

"Go to Canada, it's not like we're staying long." I said as I turned the key in the ignition taking the van off of auxiliary power and starting the engine.

"Now hold on a second! You can't do that!" Christine said from the back.

"She is right, doing so might land you in jail." Nathan said supporting her.

"Well if I wind up in jail then it won't be wasting my time. I am out of work right now." I said as I put the van in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot.

"There is also a stiff fine to go with that." Nathan said.

"That's just the government's way of getting more of my money." I told Nathan as I put the gear in to drive and pulled away and down the row of the parking lot.

"No its not, that's not what it is at all." Nathan said.

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"Well… it's…" Nathan tripped on his words for a second before giving up.

"See. Told you, government money." I laughed a bit as I said that. I pulled out of the parking lot and on to 12th Ave and then an immediate left turn on to Gaffney Road. It was almost a complete U-turn. Nathan just sat back quiet as the headlights guided us down this small alley like road.

"Did you just go down a dead end?" Nathan asked.

"No. This road loops back around and will take us to the highway." I said as I made a 90 degree turn to follow a bend in the road. The main highway could now be seen due to the swift passing of taillights to my left on the other side of a chain link fence. I yielded to a car before making a left turn on to Nobel Street. I got in the turn lane just to get stuck at a red light.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay at a hotel tonight?" Nathan asked.

"Nah, I figure we just get out of town now." I said as I waited with my left turn signal on. I got the green light and turned on to Airport Way east bound and punched the speed up to 40mph, taking the next exit ramp and on to the Richardson Highway to Delta Junction. I pushed the speed to 50mph. The snow was cleared off the road and pushed to the sides.

"You got enough gas?" Nathan asked.

"I got three fourths left, we're good." I said.

"Snacks?" Nathan was making sure we had everything.

"I got some in the back." I said, not once taking my vision off the road.

"It's all stale, taste like garbage." Christine said.

"That is the garbage…" I said.

"It still sucks." She said back.

"Stop eating the garbage." I replied.

"Your right, these snacks are garbage. Pick up some fresh ones. And clean up this mess." Nathan said, now in the back with the others.

"Fine. I will stop and get something in North Pole." With the city of Fairbanks in the rear view mirror I tapped on the breaks a little and then rumbled over a railroad crossing then raced back up to 55. I was beginning to sweat as things heated up. That's when I realized that I was still wearing my coat. Keeping one hand on the wheel at all times I managed to get it off and throw it in the back. Hitting Nathan who was finishing off the last of the snacks that were in my bag.

"Watch where you're throwing stuff!" Nathan yelled.

"Can't, got to keep the eyes on the road. Pass me the Twinkies." I said.

"Already gone." Nathan said.

"Yall need to slow down back there! You're gonna eat up all the damn food." I said annoyed that my Twinkies were gone.

* * *

January 19, 2000 9:23 pm

Christine

* * *

"Eat them." I said pushing a box forward with my paw. "All of them."

"All of them?" Cassandra said looking down at the box of Hot Tamales.

"I know two languages, I don't believe I stuttered." I put my claw in to the top of the box and ripped it open. The box was half full. We stared at each other through the darkness for a moment before she spoke up.

"Why me?" She asked.

"Why not." I said, flipping the box over and spilling some of the candy out.

"Alright, I will do it." She said leaning her head down in to the pile of candy. I watched on as she began eating. This was boring, because she was a fire type this was not working.

"Stop, stop eating. Just stop for a second." I said and she looked up.

"There good." She said as a small flame escaped her mouth.

"Another railroad crossing." Rob called out just before everything bumped around hard.

"Hay, Dentyne, come here and try some of this." I said to her

"No thanks, I'm busy." She said back.

"Doing what?" I asked.

"Laying down. How about you ask Dana." She said never once lifting her head up to look over.

"_No._" A voice said in my head.

"_Now wait a second._" I replied.

"_How about… No._" She said again.

"_But you don't ev -_" I started.

"_I do even, your trying to get someone to eat that candy so you can watch them burn._" She figured me out. Easy to do if you can read my mind. "_Ask Lily._" She said.

"Yo, Lily." I said. I heard the sound of some covers shifting around.

"What is it?" She said.

"Are you hungry?" I asked with a flat tone?

"Somewhat." She said back.

"Well I got you something to eat." I replied and she walked over, dragging her blanket with her on her back

"What are these?" She asked. She started to sniff them and I started to smile.

* * *

January 19, 2000 9:26 pm

Rob

* * *

I got off the first exit for North Pole and there was a Safeway supermarket right down the road. I would need to be in and our quickly before they close for the night.

Just as I turned in to the parking lot. "Leaf! leaf! leaf! on! eon! Eon, lea on le on!" "(Shit! Shit! Fuck! Damn! That's hot! Shit, my mouth burns!)" I heard from the back along with laughter.

"Nathan, whats going on back there?" I asked while pulling in to the closest parking spot.

"Lily ate some Hot Tamales." Nathan said.

"I am going to add water to that list of stuff we need to get. Ok lets go." I said as I clicked the engine in to auxiliary to keep the heat running. I turned around and looked on as Lily was pawing at her mouth while the others talked to her. I picked my heavy coat up off the ground and put it on.

"Christine." I said.

"Yes?" She said back.

"Nathan and I will be right back, we are running in the store to get some snacks for the road. Don't let anything explode while we are gone." I said to her.

"Alright." She replied.

I opened the door and joined Nathan outside and we walked to over to the store.

* * *

Time for a question.

On the back of Rob's van he has a standard non-custom license plate from 1996. What slogan is printed on the plate?

A. In God we trust.  
B. Live free or die.  
C. First in flight.  
D. Wild, wonderful.  
E. –there is no slogan-

Answer at the end of the next chapter.


	12. Life in the Fast Lane - Part 1

Life in the Fast Lane – Part 1

January 19, 2000 9:30 pm

Christine

* * *

"Cassandra, stop with the fire." I said to her as he was blowing a small flame out of her mouth.

"Who put you in charge?" She asked.

"Rob did, now stop before something explodes." I replied. She just giggled and stopped.

"rrrrrrrrrrr RRRVVVVVVVVRRRRRR rrrrvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrr rRRRRRRrrrrrrr RRRRRRRRR vvvrrrrrrr OUT OF MY WAY BUTT WIPE! rrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRrRrrRRR" What the hell?

"Jenny, what are you doing?" She was standing on the driver seat on her hind legs with her front paws on the steering wheel.

"Race car. Like on TV." She said. I took a moment to face paw so hard before deciding to play along.

"Pull over. I'm the cops." I got up on the passenger seat.

"Problem officer?" She said in a smug tone.

"Do you know how fast you were going?" I said trying to sound official.

"I don't know, the speed gauge isn't working." She said pointing to the dash board.

"You were going 134 miles per hour, in a school zone." I said.

"But I am winning the race, and besides its like 9 o clock, there's no kids out there." She said sill sounding smug.

"For starters, you are no longer winning the race and second. Have you been drinking tonight?" I said as serious as I can.

"No, I have not been drinking." She said.

"I need to see your license, registration and proof of insurance." I continued.

"But I-" She started.

"Step out if the vehicle, go to the back." I pointed to the back of the van and she got down off the seat. "Deputy Cassandra, make her walk the line."

"So I'm the deputy now." She said.

"That is correct." I said

"Ok, Jenny, walk in a straight line from here to the back doors and back." Cassandra said. Jenny started walking but then she just fell over on to her side.

"HAY! WHAT THE HELL!" Jenny yelled as Dana laughed.

"Yup, she's obviously drunk hahahaha." Dana continued to laugh.

"I'm gonna get you for that, you bitch." Jenny was mad that Dana used her power to throw her off balance for a second. Dana couldn't stop snickering.

"Deputy Cassandra." I said.

"Ya." She said

"Book em'." I ordered.

"Jenny, you are under arrest for DUI, driving without a license, grand theft auto and speeding. You have the right to shut the hell up and anything you say will be manipulated to make your life suck more." Cassandra said as she walked over to Jenny.

"You can't arrest me, you don't have a jail." Jenny said. That's when Dentyne and Heather walked over. A blanket was thrown over Jenny and Heather and Dentyne laid down on top, pinning Jenny to the bed.

"Now you stay there and think about what you did." I said.

"This sucks and you know it…" Jenny said from under the pile. We all had a good laugh except for Jenny. That's when we heard Rob and Nathan talking outside.

"That night was fun, I think we were the only ones who didn't drink at the party but the next morning she started with this fifty dollars crap." Rob said.

"That's crazy." Nathan said.

"She never once said anything about fifty dollars that night." Rob said as he opened the side door and walked inside.

"So what did you do after that?" Nathan asked as he walked in behind Rob.

"I threw her off my damn property. Told her not to come back." Rob started placing plastic bags down on the floor. He took some pop bottles out of one of them and went over to the mess and started putting it in to the empty bag. Nathan took his seat up front, taking off his jacket and placing it behind the chair. The place was cleaning up nicely.

Rob turned on the light then he continued to clean up the garbage. I looked around and the first thing I noticed was a poster on the wall behind me that depicted someone sitting on the floor holding a cross up in one hand and on the floor behind them to the side was a small skull with the words Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Ozz written on the top corner.

The next thing I noticed was a medium sized cardboard box right next to where Rob was cleaning, behind the driver seat. Then there were two of those plastic storage bins in the space next to the bed along the right wall so they were not blocking the side doors but the only way to the back door was to walk on the bed.

The bed was a small size mattress along the left wall held in place by a wooden frame. It was big enough for one person to sleep on, but we were all lined up along it. I was closest to Rob at the top of the bed. Then Cassandra was next to me wrapped up in a blanket. Then we had the pile up of Heather and Dentyne with Jenny under them. Past them was Dana, who was just lying there watching everything that was happening, probably monitoring our thoughts. And at the bottom of the bed, closest to the back doors was Lily under some blankets. She was probably sleeping.

Rob stepped out of the van and shut the door. "What's going on back there?" Nathan asked.

"Nathan, tell them I didn't do it!" Jenny yelled from under the blanket.

"She didn't do it?" Nathan asked.

"Let her up, time out is over." I said and Dentyne and Heather got up and let Jenny out.

"I'm going to get you for that." Jenny said as she sat next to me. Rob entered the van.

"All cleaned up and I got all kinds of good stuff for us to eat and drink. Is everyone ready to go? Need to take a crap? I am not stopping again until we get to Delta Junction." Rob announced. I looked around and no one spoke up.

"Were all good." I said

"Alight then." I felt the van jerk forward when it was shifted out of park and we were off.

* * *

January 19, 2000 9:37 pm

Rob

* * *

Man this road, ironically named North Santa Clause Lane, was built to the maximum of stupid. When I exited the parking lot I had to go to the right, towards town then all the way around the roundabout just to go back to the highway. Did I mention that I hate roundabouts?

I made my way up the on ramp. Just as I was about to merge on to the freeway a tractor trailer came thundering by, forcing me to hit the brakes to avoid getting hit. I floored the gas and the engine almost redlined. Got up to 55mph in no time.

I glanced over my shoulder for a second to see if everyone was ok from the sudden burst of speed. Everyone was fine. They were all laying down and chilling. Except for Christine, she was sitting, looking at the front window seemingly lost in thought, smiling.

* * *

Answer time.

The answer is C. First in flight. This state slogan has been printed on North Carolina license plates since 1983.


	13. Life in the Fast Lane - Part 2

Life in the Fast Lane – Part 2

January 19, 2000 9:45 pm

Rob

* * *

It wasn't long until we passed the small town of Moose Creek and as we passed the Air Force base on the left there was two yellow diamond shaped signs on both side of the road that read 'END DEVIDED ROAD' as it reflected in my headlights.

Right in front of me was that truck from earlier. I watched it bounce around and then a few chunks of packed snow got kicked up and hit the windshield. I quickly got out of the right lane and got past the truck as I passed another yellow diamond sign the read 'RIGHT LANE ENDS'. It looks like that truck is going to be behind me from now on.

With a clear road in front of me I pushed on to the merge point. The dashed white line disappeared and the road got narrower. Now in its place was a double yellow line that also disappeared as the lane doubled in width. It got smaller once again and there was a now a dashed yellow line with a solid yellow line going down the middle of the road separating me from oncoming traffic.

In the time it took me to describe all that the road pattern changed once again, to a more dangerous one. There is now only a dashed yellow line in the center. I must remain alert for any oncoming vehicles on my side of the road. I now slowed down to a comfortable 45mph. The only sources of light out here other than myself is the truck far behind in my rear view mirror and the lights of the Air Force base to my left.

The sky was no longer clear. It was now pitch black. You couldn't even see the moon. It was hard to see Nathan sitting right next to me. The only sounds that could be heard was the steady rumble from the engine with a faint squeal. The sound of the tires on the road with a light squeak of the shocks every time I hit an asphalt patch on the road. These patches were noticeably darker in color and rougher then the road and have been put in after years of harsh abuse from the extreme weather and heavy trucks.

There was another sound. A sound from behind me. It was the sound of a bag crinkling. I quickly looked back. Christine was laying down. Everyone was laying down asleep, or so I thought. I saw a forked tail from behind my chair. I had put of the bags on top of the box behind my chair.

"Who's back there?" I asked. Even if I couldn't understand them, I would know who they were by the name they called out. But something different happened, in my head?

"_I see you picked up a big bag of chips. Good move._" The voice said.

If the voice is in my head I guess I should answer in my head? "_Uhh… Thanks?_"

"_You caught on quick._" It said.

"_Who vwrveqmvl._" I said.

"_You're not good at this are you? Relax and clear your head before attempting to speak._" It said.

"_Who is this?_" I asked. With a more clear thought.

"_It's Lemmy._" The feminine voice said.

"_Last time I checked, Lemmy wasn't a girl._" I said.

"_Shudd-up._" The voice said again.

"_Don't tell me to shut up in my own-ewjgfhqhw!_" This was not going well.

"_Don't get angry… You're just making it difficult for yourself. How about this, you tell me what happened to you._" The voice said.

"_What do you mean? 'What happed?' Nothing happened._" I said.

"_That's not what those bloody bandages on your arms and that cast on your wrist say._" She said.

"_I was in a truck crash. I don't remember much of what happened but it hurt._" I replied.

"_I am watching it all now, you seem to have some good reaction timing. You saw the tree. You angled yourself in such a way that you would go through the window. Its black I can't see any more. You hit the ground and blacked out._" She said. The road has been straight for a while and looks like it will continue to go straight so I could take my eyes off for it for a second. I looked down and sitting in between the seats was the Espeon. I looked over at Nathan and he has his head down and was sleeping.

"_My name is Dana, you seemed to be wondering._" She said.

"_How did you know?_" I asked.

"_I can tell what you're thinking even if you're not saying it. Now I am still going through that memory and there are muffled voices. I can't tell what they are saying but I think one of them is Christine._" Dana said.

"_She was there when I woke up._" I said.

"_Awww… You were scared of her, that's cute._" She said with a bit of a laugh.

"_I was expecting to be dead._" I said.

"_The little Grim Glaceon is going to take your soul away._" She continued to laugh. "_I heard that, you just called me an evil bitch._" Still laughing.

"_Get out of my head._" I said.

"_This is draining my power, we will play again later._" She said as she got up.

"_Good, that means your leaving._" I managed to say before she walked away. She brushed her tail along my side as she turned around before walking off to the back of the van.

The road was starting to bend again when I heard those bag rustling noises again. "You at it again?" I asked out loud.

"Pe esp on" The voice said. Some things I might never understand.

"_I said that I forgot the chips._" Dana said in my head.

As the minutes rolled on a few gaps in the clouds appeared and the faint light of the moon could be dimly seen behind them. Up ahead a set of bright lights could be seen. It got closer, it was hard to see though the glare off the windshield. I flicked my high beams on and then off quickly. The other motorist took the hint and turned off his high beams before passing by.

* * *

January 19, 2000 10:03 pm

Christine

* * *

What you say about his company.  
Is what you say about society.  
Catch the mist, catch the myth,  
Catch the mystery, catch the drift.

The world is, the world is  
Love and life are deep.  
Maybe as his skies are wide.

Today's Tom Sawyer,  
He gets high on you.  
And the space he invades,  
He gets by on you.

[start epic solo]

{Tom Sawyer by Rush - Moving Pictures - 1981}

"_Alright! I'm in Rush playing the electric jug!_" I think as I blow on the jug up on stage with Geddy Lee as the music got interrupted by loud crunching sounds.

Everything falls apart and I awaken from my dream.

"Ahhh… What the hell…" I mumbled to myself as I put my paw up on my head. I was having a good sleep. The gentle movements of the van put all of us to sleep. All but one, Dana. She was always up to something and never seemed to sleep. And here she is, next to me crunching.

"Do you want some chips?" She asked but I was too woozy to comprehend.

"What…?" I said.

"It was a question as to if you would like some of these chips, yes, no." She asked but I wasn't hungry I had a headache more than anything.

"No… No. I'm fine…" I was a bit wobbly to stand up, but this will soon pass. I started to stand up stretching forward as I did so, slipping out from under the blanket I was wrapped up in. "Where are we?" I asked.

"I have no idea." Dana said.

"We are in the town of Salcha." Rob spoke up.

I looked up between the seats and out the windshield. From my point of view I saw the sky. There wasn't much to see, there was complete darkness.

* * *

Songs: If I use a chunk of a song or whatever and I find it awesome or important I will include the name of the song, who it's by, and if I can, the album and year so you can look it up if you wish to listen to it.


	14. Farewell Fairbanks

Farewell Fairbanks

January 19, 2000 10:46 pm

Rob

* * *

Nothing. This forest, it goes on for miles… miles and miles…. The nights here are too long and the days are randomly short. I can't remember the last time I saw the sun. It was earlier today, but… today is almost over. It is about to be tomorrow. Tomorrow will start just like today ends… dark. Every day starts like how it ends, in the dark. We are all in the dark. Some more than others. Some people are completely oblivious to the world around them.

Mile 282, the small green sign on the side of the road tells me. I have been watching the miles count down since Fairbanks. Sometimes when I am driving and everything is quiet I just like to think about things. Things I could have done differently in the past, things I would like to do in the future. Getting my GED is one of them. I was a fool for quitting school, I was done with learning useless knowledge and I thought I was best thing since sliced bread. I thought I had everything figured out and I could make millions easily.

Well I lived this life long enough to know now that I was full of shit. After a few years I was forced to move away from my friends and family. Only my closest of friends and my family know where I live now, I am only in town to visit them about twice a year. I don't own a place of my own, sure my house is nice but I am renting it off of a friend. Shortly after moving to North Carolina I quickly became know all over town and I can safely say 'I know a guy…' for almost anything if the price is right, no questions asked.

The only down side to being so popular is my house is the chill zone. Most of the time we will all just hang out on the porch, drinking beer, telling jokes and having a good time. But sometimes the place is ground zero for some crazy wild parties. A few of them were ended with the cops showing up. Since I am away I bet something is being broken right now and I am going to return home to 'the coffee pot no longer works' or 'the toilet is beyond clogged' or the best one of them all 'your couch mysteriously chain sawed its self in half'. Every time I leave I return home to some kind of bullshit.

I wonder what Christine will think of this life style. She seemed to be living an uneventful life where everything was taken care of and every day seemed the same. My life is full of high points and low points it is in no way an easy one. One day I might be walking around my house in my boxers and drinking beer and watching the TV and enjoying some me time. Then the next day I get a job and spend the next week and a half going out to Denver and back just to make next month's rent payment. It's hard spending half a month away from home just to make a living.

Mile 281. It's strange how many thoughts you can have in a mile. The speed limit is 65mph but I am only going 45 because of the danger of ice on the road and other hazards that extremely cold temperatures can cause. Anyway, where the hell would Christine sleep? I could give her one of the couches in the living room. I have three of them in there, lost the fourth one to a chain saw… None of them are leather. Sleeping on a leather couch is the worst, all that sliding around. It was like sleeping in one of those rubber things that you hold in your hand but no matter how much you squeeze it you can't hold it, woke up on the floor. Not to mention that it flared up my back pain so I had to spend a few hours looking around for some pain killers because I didn't have any with me at the time. That day wa-WOAH!

I struck a part of the snow embankment that spilled back on to the road after being pushed on to the side by a plow. Just before the spill was a small emergency pull off. It looked like a truck spilled the embankment when they were pulling back out on to the road and the back of the trailer caught the snow pile and made a mess of it. I could tell because of the dually tire marks in the snow just before I hit it. The van shook violently to the left, the sounds of ice shards and compacted snow could be heard banging around in the fender. This caused me to veer over in to the oncoming lane. I yanked the steering wheel over to the right and quickly got back over. Luckily I was the only one around or we all might be having a bad night right now.

There was a lot of commotion going on in the back. "What's going on?" Nathan asked.

"I hit some snow, it was spilled out across the road." I said.

"Ok, where are we at?" He asked.

"Mile 280." I said jokingly.

"What is that, like 280 miles to go?" He asked me.

"280 miles until the end of this road." I said.

"Then what?" He asks too many questions.

"Then Canada. How about you grab the road atlas, it's on the back of your chair. " I told him.

"You have one of those? Shouldn't someone who drives for a living know where to go automatically?" He was laughing as he said it. He got up out of the chair and wend around to the back to get it.

* * *

January 19, 2000 10:50 pm

Christine

* * *

I am getting sick of being woken up by some pointless bullcrap. I have been awake for way too long, I need to get my beauty sleep. At least I wasn't alone. Everyone else was woken up as well.

"It was a bit like being thrown." Heather said.

"Ya, I hope everything is ok up there, it seems like he has everything under control again." Cassandra said.

"Dana, do you mind sharing?" Jenny asked Dana. Dana was once again burying her face in the chip bag. Dana pulled her head out of the bag and pushed the bag away.

"Take em' I don't want to be the one to eat them all and get fat." She said as she pushed the chips away.

"The next town is Big Delta." Nathan said to Rob. I didn't care to listen to the rest of that conversation. My head was pounding from a lack of sleep.

I pulled the rest of the black blanket I had over my head, fully enclosing myself within it hoping not to be disturbed any longer…. Sleep…

"Whoa, Dana, you sure have been putting on weight." I said as I looked at my fat friend who was so fat that her legs no longer reached the ground.

"Do me a favor, pass me that donut." She asked.

"What donut?" As soon as I asked a giant donut fell from the sky and landed on me and almost crushed me. I poked my head out from the center of it as a laugh track went off.

This sure is a strange dream…

* * *

I got nothing to say.


	15. Life in the Fast Lane - Part 3

Life in the Fast Lane – Part 3

January 19, 2000 11:04 pm

Rob

* * *

With the exception of a few buildings here and there the scene remains the same. Complete darkness except for the road in my headlights and whatever signs the light reflects off of. Well the good news is if we crash here we will have a town to crash in. As an added bonus we are not the only ones out here tonight. I crossed the intersection for Brewis Boulevard and a car pulled out and is now behind us. We are in between two towns right now, Big Delta and Delta Junction, from there we will head off in to the deep forest where no one survives…

Tiny ice particles are starting to form on the windshield due to the extremely cold, dry air out there and the warm moist air in here so I turn on the defroster. After about 30 seconds they begin to melt away when hit with the hot air blowing out of the defroster vents. This does no good for the back windows so all I see in my rear view mirror is frosted glass lit up with two halos of light from the car behind us.

Mile 267. I have been counting this entire time. "Hay." A voice says next to me. It was Christine.

"Hay, I thought you were sleeping." I reply.

"I was, but, I keep having these weird dreams." She tells me.

"What do you dream about?" I ask.

"For the most part, I am not sure. But… Have you ever felt like you were being watched?" She says.

"Not entirely, but I know what you mean." I say as I let off the gas pedal to slow down for the 35mph speed limit.

"In these dreams, the stuff that happens makes no sense." She goes on.

"Ok… That seems normal." I say.

"But..No. I can see myself, as if on display for the whole world to see. Like I am on TV or something, it making a fool out of me and people are watching me." I look at her for a second and she is looking off in some random direction as if she is looking at something or someone (you) but there is no one there.

"What are you looking at?" I ask.

"I don't know." She responds.

"Has anyone ever told you that you think too much?" I reached down and started petting her on the head. Finally lights, we have reached the town of Delta Junction and the overhead street lights are lighting everything up. The road gets wider and splits in to two lanes, I move in to the right one. Shadows are getting thrown around as we pass under each light. "I need to find a gas station, I am under a half tank." I started looking around for a place to stop.

I make a left on to School Road and then turn in to the parking of a Tesoro Alaska gas station. I pulled up to a pump, the gas tank is on the left side of the van. Put the gear in to park and shut off the engine.

"Want me to wake Nathan up?" Christine asks as I get up and grab my heavy coat.

"Nah. I am going to need him to drive later." I said as I put my coat on and went back over to the driver seat and opened up the door and got out. Before I could close the door Christine jumped out.

* * *

January 19, 2000 11:09 pm

Christine

* * *

"So, how are you going to get me in to Canada?" I asked.

"Getting in is the easy part, it's getting back out that is the hard part." He said.

He was busy with the gas so I took a walk around to the other side of the van and out from under the station roof so I had a clear view of the sky. I saw the moon faintly shining though thin parts of the clouds. I looked both ways before crossing the road in front of the gas station. There is a grassy area between that road and the highway. Now look away, I got to water the lawn. (Looking at the van *elevator music plays*).

Ok, I'm done. No- *RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhh*

A tractor trailer roars past me and I was to close and get a swift blast of wind after it passes I hear Rob hanging up the pump, I better get back. Once again I look before crossing the road and I let a car pass then I run across the street. This town is much more active then where I lived. I pause for a second to look at the passenger side of the van. Painted on the side of the dark red van is a Moltres wrapped in flames in a flying/fighting pose like it is about to strike. It looks kind of epic.

"There you are." Rob said as he walked around the back of the van.

"Just looking at this." I said.

"You like it?" He asked.

"Ya, it's cool." I replied.

"I had a friend who did custom designs and paint jobs for cars. So he gave me a nice discount, he said it would look cool. My dad got this van when I was 12 years old. When I was 16 and got my driver's license he gave me the van. I should have put more money in to the engine then making it look good." He said.

"But, it already looks good." I said.

"Not when I got it, it was a rust bucket with a paint job worn down by years of rock salt, I got all the body work done on it, new paint, I just had the tires replaced a few months ago along with the brakes. Now it's got a bad pulley, so I am going to need to get that replaced." He said as we walked back around to the other side.

"Are we going to crash?" I asked.

"Not at all. If the pulley breaks then we will just be stuck. We won't crash and burn." He opened the door and due to the angle of the floor it was difficult to get back in. After kicking forward with my back paws I just managed to get back in, almost slipping back out. The Rob got in and closed the door.

It did get a bit chilly in here, but that's to be expected. I walked to the back, everyone was still asleep. As Rob started the engine back up, I slipped back under my blanket.

* * *

January 19, 2000 11:14 pm

Rob

* * *

I dropped the gear in to drive and did a U-turn back out on to the road way. Stopped at a stop sign and then turned to the left and then stopped again at another stop sign then left again to get back on to the A2 (Richardson Highway). Right ahead is a split in the highway A2 continues to the left, the start of the A4 to the right.

* * *

So Rob is busy driving and Nathan is asleep holding the map. What way do  
they go, to the left or the right? Find out on the next episode of Christine says 'What?'.

Christine: "What?"

Me: "Ha, ha."


	16. Through the Never

Through the Never

January 19, 2000 11:15 pm

Rob

* * *

I keep to the left as the road splits, staying on the A2. The lights from the lamps above is comforting for now. Soon we will be entering the dead zone. This is a place where small towns are separated by at least one hundred miles and road conditions can go from bad to worse in under a minute.

As I approach the next intersection a snow plow truck pulls out and gets in the lane next to me, I am in the left lane and it is in the right. I slow down a bit and let the plow pass and I put on my right turn signal and move over to the right, getting behind the plow truck. That's when I see it, a sign with three thing written on it 'Dot Lake 61' 'Tok Jct 108' and 'Canada Border 201' I know that we are headed in the right direction. That was also the point that we passed the last street light. The passing lane is also gone the road is back to being separated with a double yellow line.

The speed limit sign says 50 mph but the truck ahead of me is only going 45, I would have done the same, there is no use speeding in the winter.

* * *

[TIME STAMP HERE]

Christine

* * *

"Christine, you're up." A voice said. I walked out on to the stage and in to the spot light. I walked up to the microphone stand and when I got there the stand slid down to my height, the microphone hit me on the head causing a loud ringing noise.

"Hello, how is everyone tonight!" The audience was quiet.

"That's great! Because I just slid in from Alaska and, boy is my butt tired!" Someone coughed in the audience.

"You know, slid. Like on ice because I'm an ice…, never mind…, anyway! Have you ever wondered where snow cones come from? Well, have you looked in your fridge because it's running away…? No wait, its, does… something…" Well this is going poorly.

Suddenly the crowd starts cheering as I hear footsteps beside me. I look up to see who has walked on stage with me.

"Kirk Hammett!" I gasp when I notice who it is.

"Hay, hows it goin?" He asked me.

"Not so well…" I answer.

"Well, that sucks, but hay, have you seen my flame thrower?" He randomly asks.

"Wait, wha- AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" If you couldn't tell by my screaming, he let me on fire.

This hurts, badly! I need to make it stop! I need to roll! I got to run! Water! I trip over the microphone cord and fall off the stage, as the audience laughs on, the microphone stand falls on top of my burning body.

"Stop kicking me! Christine! Wake the hell up!" A voice tells me as everything fades to black.

* * *

January 20, 2000 12:17 am

* * *

"Christine, are you ok?" A voice says as I start to return to reality.

"Uh…" Is all I manage to say, that's not saying anything that was a noise.

"Are you ok? You look like hell." It was Jenny, I kicked Jenny.

"I feel like hell…" I somehow manage to say.

"You need to just calm down." She says.

"I'm trying, I guess I'm just nervous." I tell her. I can't seem to stay asleep. Every time I fall asleep something stupid happens. Well this time something bad happened.

"Do you need a hug?" She asks me, Uhhh… My brain made a noise now.

"No, I will be fine. Shouldn't you be sleeping?" I change the subject.

"I was. But I have been up for about 15 minutes." She says as we cross over a small bridge.

"Anything going on?" I ask like there might be something else happening.

"No, it's too dark to see anything really." She tells me.

"You know, I predicted snow. I should go see how Rob is doing." I started to get up. It seems that I have already kicked my blanket off.

"Rob… How are you doing?" I ask.

"Uhhhh…" He responds.

"Is it snowing?" I sit down between the chairs on the floor.

"There has been a few flurries but nothing has been sticking." A car passes in the opposite direction and everything dimly lights up as it passes.

"So, where are we now?" I look up at him. He quickly looks down then back up.

"The middle of nowhere." That's not quite what I wanted to hear.

"How are you not tired?" I ask him.

"I am very tired. I have gotten to know the feeling over the years and I have my ways of not falling asleep." He says.

"Well, what about Nathan?" I hope I am not asking to many questions.

"What about him?" He asks back.

"Can he drive so you can sleep?" I should have been clearer the first time.

"I want to get us in to Canada before I wake him up." He tells me.

I turn around to head back, it looks like someone else is awake. It was Lily, she has been sleeping ever since we stopped at that store. She was going though one of the bags of stuff.

"What are you looking for?" I ask her as I walk over.

"I am looking for water, found it." She says as she tips the bag over and a bottle of water falls out and hits the floor and rolls around a bit before she stops it. "I am have been very thirsty ever since you made me eat the stuff."

:"I never made you eat anything. You just ate it." I said pointing out the obvious.

"Well, it was still not a nice thing to do." She said.

"It wasn't my idea, Dana told me to do it." I was only half right.

"Can you help me with this?" She was trying to figure out how to open the water bottle. I would help her, but I don't have hands… I wonder if Rob could help.

"Let me see the bottle." I get the bottle sideways in front of my front legs and roll it forward to the front of the van. Lily follows me up to Rob. "Rob." I call. He looks quickly. "Can we stop for water?" I ask.

"Good thing you said something now, there is a pull off up ahead." He pushes lightly on the brake pedal. Then flips the turn signal on. And with one final push on the brake he turns to the left. The van bounces around as we leave the main road way. He brings the van to a stop and puts it in park.

"Alright… Where did Nathan put the bowl?" He asks as he gets up and steps over me. I turn around and bring the bottle with me as I move to the back. "Found it." He gets the water bowl located next to Nathan's bag. He takes the bottle from me and sets the bowl down on the floor. Then opens the bottle and pours it in to the bowl. I walk over and get a drink. Lily and Jenny join in as well.

Rob takes a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper out of another bag. He takes a seat on the edge of the bed, looking like he is sitting on a street curb. He cracks the soda open. I watch as he lifts it up and chugs a good bit down. After he lowers it he lets out a small burp. Ok, what? You know what? Never mind. No, no, there is no way I out belched a trucker back at that restaurant.

We finish up most of the water. I guess we will need to stop again when the others wake up. "Alright, let's go." Rob says as he stands up and walks back to the driver seat with soda in hand. He takes a seat and puts the bottle on the floor and takes the van out of park.

Everything shook slightly as we got back on to the road. There is nothing left to do but lay back down and wait for sleep. I lay down in between Lily and Jenny.

"So, do you think you will be ok?" Jenny asks.

"I hope so." I tell her.


	17. 1321

1321

January 20, 2000 1:24 am

Rob

* * *

I took another drink of my Dr. Pepper. Staying awake at the wheel is something I have learned to do over the years. It seems we are about to go through another town that is just up ahead. I flick the wipers on as it starts to snow again. Christine was right, the snow is starting to pick up. But it's nothing like what I had to drive through on the night I destroyed that truck, it wasn't right for him to send me on that job in the first place. Some people feel that profit is more important than safety.

They say that if you stare at the dotted lines in the center of the road long enough as they pass, you start to become hypnotized. You start to drive like a robot in this state and if anything happens in front of you, your reaction time will be greatly reduced, ending in a crash. There may be a bit of truth to this as I have more than once just found myself going forward as if following a predetermined set of directions. There is no other way to describe this feeling. Luckily for me it only takes a small diversion to this path to snap me out of this state of mind.

"Rob… I can't sleep…." It was Christine. I looked down for a second, she was standing in between the seats.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked her.

"I will be fine…" She said in a bit of a slur.

"You don't sound alright, you might have caught a cold." I said.

"… Have you been asking Dana…, how to say stupid things…?" She asked me, still sounding extremely tired and out of it.

"_Well played, done like a pro, but I think she is giving you the… cold shoulder. Ha ha!_" A voice in my head said.

"_I thought I told you to stay out of my head._" I said back.

"_I have been listing to your thoughts for the past hour, and some of the stuff you think of is just the most useless crap. I mean it's just a back scratcher with a longer handle._" Dana said.

"_Hay! Don't underestimate the usefulness of the butt scratcher!_" I yelled back, I think I am starting to get the hang of this mind talking thing.

"_Whatever, I still think it's a dumb idea._" Dana said as she left my head.

"Uhhh, shit….. Where are we? What time is it?" Nathan woke up from his sleep.

"One thirty in the morning." Christine said.

"Rob where are we?" He asked as he rubbed his head.

"I don't know where we are, you have the map." I said already having a vague idea of where we might be.

"Sorry about, I passed out." He said as he tried to hand me the map.

"Look up mile 1319 on the Alaska Highway, the A2." I said as I pushed the map back to him.

"Mile 1319… Looks like the town of Tok." He said.

"We made it to Tok already? That's some, ok time I made given the conditions." I said.

"How bad is the weather?" He asked me, looking out the window at the snow that is falling in the headlights.

"Not all that bad, just hit a bit of snow." I said, flicking on my high beams and then back to low again to see if I could get a better look.

"I see that." He said as he unbuckled his seat belt.

"If it gets too bad I will pull over and wait till morning." I said.

"I am gonna go get something to eat, want anything?" Nathan said as he stood up and went to the back of the van.

"Bring me my Skittles." I said quickly looking back.

"You bought Skittles? Damn, you got the big bag." He said as he found the big bag.

"I got a lot of the big bags so we wouldn't need to stop for a while." I said.

"Or we could eat ourselves in to a coma." He said.

"Why must you take a good thing and put such a negative spin on it?" I asked sarcastically.

"Heh, ok, first of all I am having some of these Skittles. Second of all, yah, I am having some of these Skittles." He said avoiding the question.

"That's fine, you can have all you want. Just bring them here." I said.

"Not without a can of Mountain Dew." He said as he cracked open a can.

"_Give me some Skittles._" Dana was back in my head again.

"_How about not sounding so demanding and asking Nathan, not me._" I replied.

Nathan returned to his seat after a minute of messing around back there.

"Ok man, here ya go." He passed me the already opened bag of Skittles. I poured a hand full out of the bag and crammed them in my mouth. I need to overload on sugar if I plan to stay awake untill Canada. I quickly chase it down with some Dr. Pepper.

"Are you just drinking that entire thing?" Nathan asked me.

"No, I will want some later." I said.

"They say that Dr. Pepper was never actually a doctor and it was actually made to kill you." He said.

"I don't feel dead. Where the hell did you hear that?" I asked.

"This one time I was working at the store, I work at the only convenience store in Central. There was someone who bought a case of Dr. Pepper and the next morning they found him dead. Strung up hanging from the rafters of his home by his shoe laces with empty Dr. Pepper cans all around the room." He said, sounding like a crazy person.

"Alright that's nuts, but I can top it. They say that Mountain Dew makes your junk smaller." I laughed after I said that.

"You're joking right? Like, that has never been proven." He said.

"Why do care about the size of your junk so much?" Christine asked in a sarcastic manner.

"It's a guy thing. You got your own thing going on and you don't see me all up in your business." I said back in the same manner.

"Whatever, I'm going to go lay down." She said before she disappeared in to the back of the van. She was definitely sounding better than before.

"But, were all good here?" Nathan asked.

"I'm no doctor how am I going to know?" I said as Nathan grabbed the bag of Skittles from me.

"I think we should stop in town." He said.

"What for?" I asked.

"I gotta take a leak, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one." He said, passing back the bag.

"Alright." I said.

* * *

January 20, 2000 1:33 am

Christine

* * *

Now maybe I can get a good sleep without being disturbed. I have been trying to get a proper sleep ever since we started this trip.

"_Hay Christine. Hay, hay, hay, guess what, hay, guess what, hay._" It was Dana.

"_What?_" I asked in response.

"_Come on, guess._" She said.

"_I have no idea why you are bothering me._" I said.

"_Do you give up?_" She asked.

"_I give, what could it possibly be?_" I say in annoyance.

"_Hi. *giggle*_" That was all she had to say.

"_I got a question. Are you responsible for these weird dreams?_" I asked.

"_Only a few, but I have been watching some of them. That one where I was fat was funny, well done. But no, you need to calm down. You seem to think more when you're not thinking at all._" She said, she knows what's going on and can be helpful some times. But it is rare that she will give some advice or opinion on what she is thinking.

"_Well what do I do now?_" I asked.

"Just relax." She walked over to where I am laying at the top of the bed.

"I wish I could." I said.

"I realize that starting a new life will be hard on you, but just give it a chance. Sometimes change is for the better." She sat down next to me.

"Sometimes I wish you would change." I said.

"Nah, I'm having too much fun doing what I do, to do that." She said.

"I never expected you would." I replied.

"Maybe one day, I will get tired of always acting like an ass hol- Nah, I'm just messing with you on that one." She said, it's true she can be a major ass at times.

"Well at least you're honest." I said in response to her admitting that she is a jag-off.

We pulled off the road and I felt the van come to a stop. Rob got up and put on his coat, Nathan followed. "Alright, pit stop." Rob said as he opened the doors up on the side of the van. Everyone woke up and was ready to go. I followed the group outside.

I walked with the others to a patch of frozen grass right next to the road. There was a sign that read. Canada Border straight ahead. Anchorage to the right. Seeing the name Anchorage reminds me of my first home. I wonder what my brother and sister are up to right now, probably sleeping, wherever they might be.

Everyone but me had to do something, I already did something earlier. Rob stood by the van while Nathan went around the side of the building we parked in front of. We were out there for less than five minutes because unlike me, some of the others can't stand to be out in the cold for more than a few minutes.

"Alright everyone, let's get going. I want to get ahead of this snow storm before things get worse." Rob said. We all hurried back in to the van. Most of us were to freezing to stay out there for long. In no time we were back on the road.

* * *

"Rob needs his twinkies, hive him his twinkies Jason" - Wing-Broker

It is actually stated in Rob's contract that he will receive a lifetime supply of Twinkies. But when Hostess went bankrupt and stopped making Twinkies the contract needed to be altered. Rob received a MP3 player and a $50 gift card to Red Lobster.


	18. Insomnia

Insomnia

January 20, 2000 2:36 am

Rob

* * *

The road has been rough for a while, and the accumulation snow doesn't help either. It is not yet a white out but I have been following the tail lights of a pickup truck far up ahead to stay on course. This van is a lot easier to control than any big rig. It's a good thing because I have been hitting small patches of ice on the road. Never hit your brakes on ice, the safe thing to do is to let off the gas and guide your vehicle back to the center of the lane and keep it straight.

Some times when I can't play the radio I like to just play a song in my head. Just to see if I know the lyrics. Let's see… oh I know, this is a good one.

All aboard! Ha ha ha hahah!

Then that part with the guitar that sounds cool.

Crazy, but that how it goes!

Millions of people living as foes.

Maybe it's not too late.

To learn how to love,

And forget how to hate!

Mental wounds still screaming,

Driving me insane!

I'm going off the rails on a crazy train!

{Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz - 1980}

Wait… that seems a bit out of place? Was it, mental wounds not healing? I can't remember right now. I'll listen to it later when I get a chance. I guess this is why I am not a singer.

"Nathan, blue sign. What's up ahead?" I said pointing to a blue sign with the gas, food and bed markings on it as we passed by it.

"What is the mile?" He asked. He has been awake since Tok.

"I don't know." I said.

"I thought you were keeping track." He said.

"Well I can't keep track of every mile, do you realize how many miles I would be required to keep track of?" I was tired to the point where I had a somewhat bad mood.

"That would be a large number of miles." He said.

"Damn right it would." I said back.

"Do you think we should stop for the night?" He asked?

"No, the snow will let up soon." I have no idea, I'm just winging it at this point. "We are going to switch seats when we get to Canada anyway."

"I am still wondering what you are going to do about getting Christine thought Canada." Nathan asked.

"I will figure it out later." I said.

"Ok… It looks like this is another town." He said quickly changing the subject.

"If I knew which one then I would be good." Am I starting to ramble?

"I will find out." Nathan said looking at the map.

"Northway." I saw a green directional sign that had Northway listed 9 miles to the right.

"That would make this Northway Junction." Nathan pointed to the tiny town on the map. I couldn't see any of what he was pointing at. There is no light. It's hard to see him, I cannot see the Pokemon at all, the only indication that they are back there sleeping is they can be heard breathing when the van is not making noise from traveling over this mess of a road.

There is a loud thud noise as I run over a pot hole that is right in the middle of an intersection. "You said you wanted a mile, well how does 1264 sound?" I asked Nathan. I waited for an answer as he crunched the numbers.

"Sounds like we are almost to Canan-""42 miles from Canada." I said, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"What?" He asked.

"We just pasted a sign." I said.

"There is just one road out here, why am I even looking at a map?" Nathan asked. Annoyed at this, I grabbed the map from him.

"I have no freaking idea why you have the damn map." With that I threw it over my shoulder and in to the back of the van.

"Ah! What the hell?" Christine said from behind me. "Why are you throwing things?" She didn't sound happy.

"This is America, it's a free country. I can throw things if I want to." I said as Christine walked up between the seats and sat down.

"Well just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Christine said.

"I'm just getting in my last bits of freedom before we leave this country." I said trying my best to justify my actions.

"She's right you know." Nathan said putting in his two cents. He wasn't the only one with something to say. It seems that I have awaken a few others as they could be heard in the back talking amongst themselves.

"_What the hell do you think you are doing?_" Oh god, not her again.

"_I was being free._" I replied.

"_Your sleep deprived and becoming emotionally disturbed because of it, that's what you're doing!_" Dana is right I am starting to act like an ass.

"_Go away._" I said.

"_Go to sleep!_" She said and then she was gone.

"Well, I'm going to go lay back down, and Rob." Christine got my attention.

"Yah." I said.

"Don't let anything explode." Wait… Did she just use my line?

She stood up and made her way back to the bed. I was now driving down hill on a nice right bend that is causing some traction problems. I tapped the brakes lightly and slowed down a bit to help regain control. All that happened was brief skidding noise. Then the van drifted in to the other lane as we reached the bottom of the hill, still in the turn. I quickly regained control as the road started to go back up and this slowed the momentum. That's when I noticed Nathan staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You could have gotten us killed."

"Let's not worry about what might happen and focus on what did happen." I said dismissing his statement.

"You sound like your losing your mind." Nathan said.

"It's already gone." Am I even thinking before I speak now?

"I think you should pull over and let me drive." He said.

"I think, I'm going to get you out of this." I said.

"Out of what?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think we need to trade places." I put my hazard lights on and pulled over on to the right side of the lane, without going off the pavement and parked the van. "I'm done. Get us to the thing."

We switched seats, Nathan was now the driver. I hoped to get to Canada before we switched off but seeing as how the last good sleep I got was from being knocked out I am not feeling to well at the moment. But for some strange reason it feels like I am not able to sleep. All this mess I will figure it out later, but for now fuck it, shit happens.

* * *

I know this story seems slow, that is because it is. That is because life is not about just the exciting parts, its bout all the boring crap in-between. Also I find it much harder to write this long and drawn out stuff than the action packed exciting parts.


	19. New Territory - Part 1

New Territory - Part 1

January 20, 2000 3:37 am

Rob

* * *

"You're telling me that you don't see it?" Nathan said as he pointed ahead using his finger with both hands still on the steering wheel.

"I just can't see the mountains." I responded putting my right arm on the arm rest of the oversized van seat. I like the comfort offered by the big cushy seats my van has.

"You got to look at the contrast between the sky and the land closely." Nathan was pointing ahead at the darkness beyond the headlights.

"All I see is the lights from the truck up ahead." A semi-truck passed us awhile back due to Nathans slow driving. That's what happens when you spend time driving a 4 wheel drive with suspension high enough to take on any terrain everywhere you go, you lose a bit of your ability to drive a normal vehicle under bad conditions. It has stopped snowing and the sky has cleared up a bit but there is a layer of snow on the road about three inches thick. It is causing some traction problems so Nathan is taking it slow. I would still be driving if I was not so damn tired.

"I see the truck as well. All I am saying is that the mountains look cool." Nathan said as we started around the next bend that led us to the left.

"I know the mountains look cool, I have seen them during the day." I said as I sat back in my seat.

"How are you still awake?" Nathan asked me. To be honest I am not actually sure how I am staying awake. Perhaps it is the soda working its magic.

"I'm not sure." That answer was simple enough, yet did its job effectively.

"Is the snow blowing? I see the lights flickering up ahead." Nathan was pointing out the window and at the back of the truck up ahead. It was going up the impending hill.

"You better hope the wind doesn't start blowing through the mountains." I said. If the snow starts blowing around it will reduce the visibility to zero and cause massive drifts across the road. Running in to one of these is how I wreaked my truck.

"That will cause an instant white out." Nathan understood the power of blowing snow.

"I think that truck has some sort of electrical fault." I said.

"How so?" Nathan asked.

"Look, ever time it hits a bump the lights on the trailer flicker but the orange lights on the side of the cab stay lit." We were going around a left bend and he truck was far enough ahead that we could sort of see the side. We were on a section of road that was raised by an artificial slope due to the change in elevation as we approached the mountains.

"Won't they stop him at the border if that's the case?" Nathan asked me.

"Only if someone is watching, there is no security to go in to Canada." I said. I have made this drive before and never once was I stopped before I passed in to Canada.

"So that means getting Christine in won't be a problem." Nathan said.

"I think getting her back out will be the hard part, can't they just look up her current registration?" I asked.

"Yes, but you are not the listed owner and they will ask questions and things will have a good chance of going wrong from there." He said.

"I hate questions, things usually end badly. And I don't see this being any exception." I said. I have had bad experiences with people asking questions in the past. It is just not my sort of thing. It seems that if I get asked a question that I either don't know the answer to or I don't want to answer I just sidestep it the best I can and hope for the best.

"Are we here already?" Nathan asked as we passed a 35mph speed sign, He let off the accelerator now that we were at the top of the hill and the speed dropped down from 40mph.

"Shit that truck is stopping." I said.

"Did he just get busted?" Nathan asked.

"I have no idea. I got to hide Christine just in case." I said as I unbuckled my seat belt. I got to think of a plan, and quick. I have never seen the border patrol actively patrolling outbound traffic. I don't have the time to ponder their motives either.

"So now you have some sort of grand plan?" Nathan was getting closer to the check point. The trucks lights flickered some more. I think the guards were inspecting the truck.

"Christine. Wake up." I said to her, she didn't move. I got down on my knees and put my hand on her back and shook her a little "Wake up." She started to move a bit. I removed my hand from her.

"What…?" She asked, then she yawned.

"The border patrol is out and about. So just…" I pause for a second as I look for something to hide a Glaceon "Use this blanket, cover up and stay quiet." I instructed as I placed the blanket over her. She started to move around.

"What the hell! We are going to get caught!" I laid down next to her on my side and warped my arms around the mass that was Christine in a blanket.

"Stay quiet and don't move, that is how we get busted." She started to comply with these orders. "Just, whatever happens, don't move or talk." I grabbed more blankets and added them to the pile so the mound looks like a pile of blankets and not a hidden Pokemon. I got up as Nathan stopped behind the truck. The truck started to pull forward and move aside on to the shoulder of the road and we were waved ahead by a lone border guard. Then told to halt by way of hand signal.

I returned to my seat as Nathan cranked down the window. The small part of road we are on is illumined by a high powered lamp on the roof of the guard building to the left of us. "Good morning gentlemen." The guard addressed both of us at once.

"Hello" Nathan said,

"Hi." I said.

"The weather service is forecasting some rough weather today so I am here to make sure that all vehicles comply with safety standards to ensure safe travel." The security officer had a large Maglite flashlight. He shined the light on the lower left corner of the front window at the inspection and emission stickers. "North Carolina? Who owns this van?"

"I'm the owner." I said from the passenger seat.

"I need to see your driver license, sir." In response to the guards demand I get my wallet out of my back pocket and pull out my CDL and hand it over to the guard.

"Are you headed back to the states?" The guard asks as he hands me back the license.

"We are just passing through. How is the highway up ahead?" I asked quickly changing the subject.

"From what I have been hearing the road is covered in snow but there will be a snow plow up here in a few hours to clear things out. My advice is to pull in to the parking area up ahead and wait it out and follow the snow plow." The guard said.

"I don't know if we have the time to sit around and wait, I got to be in Oregon in a few days." Nathan spoke up. The last thing I want to do is hang around here for too long.

"I see. Now I got to know, are you carrying any dangerous or explosive or live cargo? It's just a standard question that I am required to ask anyone with a CDL. Especially since your hazmat endorsed." The guard shined his light in to the back of the van, right at the Pokemon.

"Just my Pokemon." Nathan said. As the guard looked at the sleeping Pokemon

"I am going to need to see your registration papers." The guard said.

"Hold on, they're in my bag." Nathan unbuckled his seatbelt and went to his bag and pulled out the required papers from one of the side pockets. He walked back to the front and handed the folded up papers to the guard.

The guard quickly flipped through them all and handed them back to Nathan. "Everything seems to be in order. Do you compete?"

"Yah, I have been competing for years. I won the Alaskan state championship, in 1997. That's why I am headed to Oregon. To try to win another badge this year." Nathan was just talking away. It's hard to hide my feelings so he better speed this up and get us out of here before I start to become annoyed. Then the guard will know something is up. For now it's just sit back and let them talk. Nathan went on for a few more minutes about his plans.

"To bad that Washington State is non-fighting, it's a lot closer. The entire system is messed up the way the government has it set up. I heard that in some of the most remote parts of the country there are death factories. Places where the working conditions are so foul that no human will ever be allowed to work there. They use un-owned Pokemon that are turned in by the government to work there until they die. But it's funny how when they are questioned about such places existing they act like they don't exist at all." Is this guard insane?

"That's just a myth thought up by animal rights activists to scare the general public in to taking their side. They had a report on CNN a few weeks ago about how these outraged people are starting to go rogue and slander the American government. They have even went as far as staging a riot at a Pokemon contest in Oklahoma." Nathan said.

"I believe they are doing what they need to do to get their message across. Anyway, I don't want to take up anymore of your time, so good luck on your tournament and if you win I will be sure to read all about it in the paper." The guard walked away and Nathan rolled the window back up. By now I had the heat on full blast because it was getting cold from having the window down. Nathan put the van in drive and we went on our way towards Canada.

I got up out of my seat and walked over to the Christine pile and removed the blankets. She appeared to be asleep again before she started to move. "Did we make it?" She asked.

"We got through." I said. But there is something that I have been wondering and I feel like now is a good time to ask. "Do you often wake up like this?"

"What do you mean?" She replied

"Well you seem to be waking up constantly. Is this a regular thing?" I need to know if she has a condition the keeps her from sleeping.

"Not always, I think it happens when I am under stress." She said.

"Well I can see why would be stressed out right now. My advice to you i-

* * *

Welcome to Canada

Yukon

Larger than life

(Plus grand que nature)

NOTE: From this point forward. All units of measurement will now be Metric as the story is now in Canada. All times are now in Pacific Standard Time.


	20. New Territory - Part 2

New Territory - Part 2

? ?, ? ?:? ?

Jason

* * *

Last time on, As Christine's Life Slowly Rotates…

"No Mark! You can't go there alone! I don't want to see another sibling die!" Christine yelled.

"She's only dead because I was not there to protect her! Sometime you just got to accept the ugly facts of life as they are shoved down your throat!" Mark stood his ground like a force to be reckoned with. Then he turned and started for the door.

"Cut! What the hell!" I yelled. "Have you forgot how to hold the mic?"

"I am having trouble with one of the audio cables, I took it down to fix it and I thought I would have it back up before the camera turned." The audio man said.

"Well, just bring the mic closer. Move it over here." I waited as the audio man moved the overhead mic closer. I won't get that centralized sound that I want for this scene. But I think we can fix some of that in editing.

"This is the last time I am doing this scene, if you mess up this time I will rip you a new one." Christine was not happy because we have been plagued with technical problems all day,

"Ok, all set?" I asked.

"Yah, I think I got it this time." The audio man replied.

"Take it from the top. Annnnnd action!" I directed.

"Christine, stop crying. I am here now, as before I was elsewhere." Mark held a paw up to Christine

"You need to invest in a watch… So you can tell time. I needed you here sooner…" Christine was playing her part perfectly. Although I might want to consider firing the writer.

"Well I had a watch, it was struck with a hammer. I need to get a new one." Mark began to look sad.

"Well then that would make it… Hammer time!" This is where Christine gets mad.

"I never intended for any of this to happen, we got more important matters on our paws than the time of day at which people stop and do silly dances!" Mark said.

"Then tell m-Ahhhh." Oh shit. Just then the mic fell and hit Christine on the head. Before I could yell cut, she got up and jumped the audio man.

"Ahhhhhhh!1 Get her off, get her off! My hand!" Rob rushed over and grabbed Christine. She managed to freeze the audio man's hand in a block of ice.

"Well shit… How about we get him to the hospital and then we go get something to eat. We will do this again tomorrow. How does that sound?" I said as we can't do anything without the audio man.

"My hand… I lost the feeling… I think it's turning black…" Now the audio man was rolling around in pain.

* * *

January 20, 2000 4:49 am

Christine

* * *

"Well you seem to be waking up constantly. Is this a regular thing?" Rob said to me, I looked up at him.

"Not always, I think it happens when I am under stress." I said.

"Well I can see why would be stressed out right now. My advice to you is just relax. I think I might have something to help you. Hold on." Rob walked back to the front of the van.

"Dude, what is that?" Nathan asked Rob.

"It's a thing, don't worry about it." Rob said.

"A thing? Seriously what are those?" Nathan was sounding annoyed.

"Just some left over Xanax." Rob said as he showed what was in his hand to Nathan.

"Left over from what? You better cut that thing in half if you are going to give her that, or she will be out of it for a while." Nathan said. What was I getting myself in to?

"Alright, I just want to calm her down so she can sleep, not trip her out." Rob said. Rob walked back to me. He grabbed a bottle of water on the way and cracked it open. He kneeled down next to me. "Here take this." In his hand was half a pill.

"Now wait, how do you know this isn't dangerous?" I asked. I have only ever taken a pill when I was very sick before.

"Well, I got the other half right here and…" He took the pill and drank some water in front of me. "If it was dangerous Nathan would have stopped me." He said.

"It's basically a mood elevator. And at this point you will probably get the best sleep ever when it kicks in." Nathan said.

I sniffed the pill that was in Rob's hand. Then I licked it up and ate it. He quickly held the water bottle up to my mouth. I took a drink and he took the bottle away.

"That should start to work quickly, given your size." Rob said as he rubbed the top of my head. It felt nice, I started to lean in to it a little. "Well anyway, I got to get back up front and make sure that Nathan doesn't park us up a tree or something." Rob stood up, took a drink of the water and walked back up front.

"Oh yah, because if there is one place I just love to drive, it would be high up on top of some tree." Nathan said sarcastically as Rob took his seat.

* * *

January 20, 2000 4:53 am

Rob

* * *

"I'm sure she will sleep well. I feel like I did the right thing." I said, trying to get Nathans approval.

"I just don't feel that the use of some medication will just make problems go away." Nathan replied.

"I never said that would go away, I used the word 'help' not 'cure'." I said as I sat back in my seat.

"Why do you have those?" Nathan asked me.

"Well I have problems and it's just something to take the edge off when they hit hard. I'm not a junkie." I took the small bag out of the glove box with two more pills in it. "Look, I've had these since I came up here. I just used one so there are only two left." I stated.

"Just, don't give her too much of that stuff. I don't know how well she will handle it. She could be out for a few hours or a day from what she just took." Nathan whispered that last part.

"I'm sure she will be fine. This is low dose anyway." I said.

"Well let's just hope nothing bad happens." Nathan said with a sigh.

* * *

January 20, 2000 5:12 am

Christine

* * *

This do the that thing wirh anb thi do stuph…. zZzZzZzZzZz….

has stopped working.

* * *

January 20, 2000 5:12 am

Rob

* * *

The scene outside the window has changed from thick, high pine trees to small stubby ferns. Beyond the tops of them nothing can be seen as it is still night time. And it will remain night time for the next few hours. The sky has gotten clouded over again. It's probably going to snow again.

"It's tough to follow these small lines on the speedometer, I am just staying at 35mph." Nathan said. The lines he is referring to are the small Kilometers per hour readings on the inside of the speedometer.

"It's probably for the best. Just keep it slow, don't spin out." I said feeling a bit fuzzy from the pill I took earlier.

"You mean like you did on that turn?" Nathan said.

"Just, if you want to be that kind of gay about it." I said.

"I am just saying, that I don't want to end up pulling a you." Nathan said.

I relaxed in my seat. "Well if it is named after me than you know it will be cool." I said, not sure of what I am talking about.

"That was not a compliment." Nathan said.

"None taken. File it with the others." I said. My eyes are closed at this point.

"Are you hallucinating?" Nathan asked. Care = 0. zZzZzZzZzZz….

has stopped working.


	21. A New Day

A New Day

January 20, 2000 12:49 pm

Christine

* * *

So here I am sitting on top of a mountain. It is extremely cold up here. Everything is covered in the cleanest snow I have ever seen, and the way the wind blows though my fur makes everything feel right. I have been sitting up here for hours. It is almost like a dream. Oh, wait a second.

I awake to find myself curled up under a blanket. I move around and sit up. My head emerges from the blanket. I feel good, no, better than that. This is the best I have felt in a while. After a quick scratch behind my ear with my hind leg, I turn around and the first thing I notice is that it's day time out, no one is around and the side doors are open.

That's when I hear a snore from the front of the van. I stand up and stretch my legs before going to investigate. When I got there, I find Rob slumped over in his chair sleeping. He seems completely dead to the world. I look at the other seat and Nathan is missing, I should go find him and the others.

I stepped out of the van and in to the sun shine. It was a mild -31 (Celsius) out. I looked around, we are at a gas station in the middle of a town. We are parked away from the building. Off to the side of the parking lot by the road and the push aside snow piles. The town is busy and there are other people at the gas station, no other Pokemon to be found though.

Then when I feel something press in to my side. I jump away and turn around to find Cassandra standing in front of me. "You just scared the hell out of me." I said.

"Is that so? You should be more aware of your surroundings." She said. Normally I am aware of what is around me at all times, but for some reason I feel like I can only focus on one thing at a time. Well anyway, I feel great!

"Where is Nathan?" I asked Cassandra.

"He went in to the store. Apparently Pokemon are not allowed in most public places in Canada. He should be out soon" She said as the others started to appear from around the front of the van.

"Well, let Nathan know that I will be around the other side of the van for a minute." I said.

"Will do." She replied. Then she walked past me and jumped up in to the van. Heather, Dana and Lily followed quickly behind her and jumped in as well. I turned around and went on my way. As I was going around the back of the van I ran in to Jenny.

"How are you feeling, any better than last night?" Jenny asked.

"I feel good. I finally got the sleep I needed." I said. Then I proceeded to walk past her and up on to the snow bank and down the other side to the snow covered frozen ground a meter below. Once there I take a tinkle break. I go back over the snow pile and go back around to the other side of the van to find Dentyne. We exchange looks of acknowledgement and she jumps in the van. With everyone accounted for I decide that now would be a good time to try and see what Nathan was up to.

I made my way across the parking lot over to the store. I looked in the window and looked for Nathan. I spotted him at the counter paying for stuff. That's when I hear a kid with his mother at the gas pumps. "Look! A Glaceon!" He yells. "Don't go near it, you don't want to get sick." His mother tells him. I shake my head at that statement, that's when Nathan walks outside.

"Christine, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Nathan asks as we walk back to the van.

"I woke up. Then decided to see what everyone was up to." I said as we got to the van.

"Well I bought some gas and some other things. Get in, I got to pull up to the pump." Nathan shut the doors behind me after I jumped inside. Nathan went around to the other side and got in the driver seat.

"So you just burn down the forest?" Heather said.

"Yup, it will provide a clear path out." Cassandra said.

"Just burn it. That is you answer to everything isn't it?" Heather replied.

"Now, I want to go down the list of all the reasons you survival plan sucks." Dana cut in to the conversation. "First of all, there is too much forest. You will get tired long before you are done burning it all. Second, where are you trying to escape to? As implied by the statement "Lost in the forest." Meaning you are lost forever. There is no escape. For the purpose of this argument let's assume that the entire world is one big forest. With that being said, please revise your original plan." She can get like this sometimes.

"Well, I guess I could hunt for food. Then cook it with no problem, I won't starve. I have fire so I don't think I will be getting attacked." She went on and then was interrupted.

"Having fire does not make you invincible." Jenny said. The conversation went on from there.

Nathan stopped at the gas pumps and turned the van off. Then got out. Since the door has been open for a while everyone was once again under blankets. This time around everyone had one and was happy with it. All except for me, Dentyne and Heather. We are well equipped to handle the cold.

When Nathan returned he moved the van away from the pumps and parked it out of the way again. "Who's ready for some food?" He asks as he gets out of the driver seat and goes to his bag. Nathan pulls out the big food dish. He puts the dish on the middle of the floor. He then goes to the bag of stuff he just bought and pulls out a box of Cheerios and a bag of milk. That's right, a fucking bag. Do I need to make it seem anymore badass? No, I think not.

He emptied the entire contents of the cereal box in to the bowl and then dumped the milk all over it. Lily was the first one at the bowl. Followed by Dentyne and Jenny. I snuck in and as much as I wanted to examine what I was about to eat, it was going to be gone fast as Heather walked over. I had no choice but to dig in and get what I could while there was some still left. I think Cassandra and Dana ended their conversation without reaching a satisfactory conclusion. They squeeze in wherever they can and in a matter of minutes the food is gone and all we are left with is a bowl of milk to drink from.

This is one of the most efficient things to eat. It is food and drink mixed together in one bowl. I take a few licks of milk before I go lay back down. It looks like Nathan is going over the map before he heads back out on the road. "Nathan, where are we now?" I ask him.

"We are right in the middle of Haines Junction. Is the food all gone?" He looks over his shoulder at the bowl. "Damn, I look away for a second and there is nothing left. You girls work fast." He put the map book in the sleeve on the back of his seat. "Well how about we get out of here." He turns over the engine and puts the van in drive and pulls out of the parking spot. He obviously seems to be getting tired. It may be the tone of his voice or something about the way he looks. He will need to sleep soon.

There was the sound of gravel and ice being thrown as Nathan exited the parking lot. Nathan quickly turned on the heater. It was still warmer in here than it was outside. I looked out the windows on the doors, the sky is overcast. But at least it is day time and we can all see where we are going, well for the next few hours it will be day.


	22. Telepathetic

Telepathetic

January 20, 2000 3:21 pm

Rob

* * *

"Yo Wilson, pass me another beer. So there I was surrounded by like, 500 army man, you know from that one bad place. Anyway I had a chain gun and took em' all on! It was the most epic thing ever! Like, started it up, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!BRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRB RBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBRBR!1 For like five minutes until they were all dead. Never stopping once to reload! Because I never had to I brought the world's longest bullet belt with me. In the end there was nothing left of them but there boots. Then some American helos showed up and got me out of there, and that's why I parachuted in earlier." I like to tell the tales of my amazing adventures to my friends as we sit around and drink.

"That is so cool, you're cool!" Alex exclaimed.

"Right on, man." Wilson gave me the bro fist, I swiftly returned it like a true bro.

"I wish I were as cool as you!" Joe took a drink of his beer after saying that.

"Cool story bro, now tell the one where you cried for your mother." An intruder has entered the dreamatorium (my dream). It's time to throw down!

I got up and the scene of my house and friends faded away. I imagined a pile of weapons, it had everything from swords to rocket launchers.

"So that it? You're just going to fight me with made up guns? Well I guess I should give you something to fight." The somewhat recognizable voice said.

The creature that appeared before me looked like a big brown bird with two heads. I was already holding a rocket launcher and took aim and fired the SMAW. The high explosive rocket hit one of the heads and it erupted in to a fire ball. After the smoke cleared the neck was flailing about like a fire hose, but it was shooting blood around because my dreams are that cool.

"There is no way I can just let you win." The strange intruder said. Just before I could behead the creatures other head with my sword the ground cracked apart and I fell to my doom. I fell in to an ocean. Everything around me was dark and I swam to the surface, once there the water was purple. Wait a second… This isn't water! Purple hair? What the fuc— Just then I got trampled by a stampede of Espeons. I somehow managed to make my way on top of the stampede just to see a giant paw rise above everything and then it came down upon me.

"AHHHHOLYSHITWHATTHEFUCK!111" I violently woke up. There was a long honk of a car horn and things shaking.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Nathan seemed pissed. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Not me, I think your little mind reader is trying." I said. I think it is disturbing how she has the power to do what she did.

"What?" Nathan said.

"She invaded my mind and sent me to hell." I said.

"So you wake up screaming." Nathan had the vehicle back under control now.

"If you saw what I saw, you would be screaming too." I just had to pint that out.

"I bet it wasn't that bad. She makes me see stuff in my dreams all the time, some of it nice other things, not so nice. But I get the idea, I should have warned you." Nathan explained.

"Ah, man, wild. So, where are we?" I asked noticing that it is currently day time.

"We are at the junction of the road we are on and highway 2. We are almost too… City Centre?" Nathan seemed confused.

"Where?" I asked not fully understanding.

"That's what the sign says, where is the map?" Nathan started looking around for the map book. I found it first.

* * *

January 20, 2000 3:28 pm

Christine

* * *

"We are by the city of Whitehorse." Rob pointed out. He seemed to be back to normal after his shocking awakening. I know that Dana had something to do with Robs sudden screaming but I wanted to wait to see if she would share it with us before I asked her about it.

"Alright, a city. That's good. I believe we're all hungry. Let's stop and eat." Nathan said.

"Sounds good, after we eat then I will take over." Rob replied. I think now would be a good time to question Dana. I got up and walked back to where she was lying. I got Lily to move over a bit as I laid down between her and Dana. I figured if I was going to burst her bubble, it was going to be now.

"You seem happy today, anything you would like to share with us?" I asked Dana. She started snickering a bit after I said that.

"Nothing, its nothing. Don't worry about it." She said. This got everyone's attention.

Dentyne was the first to speak. "Well when people freak out you're usually suspect number one. How did you do it?" She asked Dana.

"So just because he freaks out. You suspect me of causing it? That is shameful, feel shamed." Dana said quickly trying to stop the subject.

"I will not, you done something. Tell me what you did." Dentyne was pushing it farther.

"Ok you're the mind reader now, tell me what you would do?" Dana said.

Dentyne paused for a moment as she thought over that last statement. "You were in his dream, weren't you?" She said confident in her answer.

"Perhaps, go on…" Dana was looking for more.

"Perhaps? There is no Perhaps. That's it, you messed with his head." Cassandra bluntly stated.

"Perhaps…" Dana was now playing one of her mind games and I think it was working.

"There is no more! That's all. Its over! Shut the hell up!" Lily yelled. We all turned and looked at her. "Sorry…" Was all she said after that outburst. She said the right thing, if it wasn't her it was going to be me to shut her up. We all sat in silence for a while after that. Soon another conversation struck up but I didn't feel like sticking around to hear it. I got up and went to go see what Rob was up to.


	23. Choices

Choices

January 20, 2000 3:34 pm

Rob

* * *

"Get in the left turn lane." I told Nathan. He seemed a bit lost but I had the map.

"This one? Right here?" He asked before he put the blinker on.

"Yah, that one." I looked over the top of the atlas at him.

"Ok, ya, Whitehorse City Centre. I see now." Nathan said pointing at the sign over the road just before we passed under it. Then he made a left turn, the light was already green. We decided to go in to town and get something to eat. Whitehorse is the only major city, if you want to call it that, out here so stopping is a matter of now or never.

We arrive at the next intersection. "Just keep going straight." I said. Luck was on our side as this light was green as well.

"Whoa, look at the view!" Nathan exclaimed. I put down the map and looked out the front window. We were up on a hill and the road twisted its way down in to a valley where the town sits but on the other side we could see the snowy mountains. Well everything is snowy but it still looks cool.

I watched as a semi-truck sped past us on the inside lane. It wasn't long before the driver hit the jake (motor) brake and slowed down on the slope. "So where do you want to eat." Nathan asked me.

"I have never stopped in this town before. I don't know what places are here." I said.

"What are in the mood for?" He asked.

"Shit, I don't know. Just drive around until we find something good." I replied. I took a quick look at the map. "Keep going straight." I said as we passed the next intersection. As much as I would like to say that it's all downhill from here. It has been downhill since way back there, so by doing so I would be wrong. "It's still downhill since then." I said.

"What?" Nathan asked, not paying attention to what I just said.

"Nothing, never mind. Whitehorse is just up ahead." Looks like I avoided that awkward mess.

"Woa-shit..Ah.." That's when Christine rolled in, literally rolled head over tail and hit the bottom of the front console. She hit and landed on her back on the floor between the seats, she quickly rolled over and mentally recovered.

"What are you doing? You a wheel now?" I asked while laughing. She looked unscathed and I know Pokemon are supposed to be physically strong so I skipped the 'You ok?' question.

"Hua…Eon?" She said. She got up and turned to face me and sat down. That's when Nathan slowed down because we finally hit a red light.

"Why did you roll? Is that an ability or something?" I asked knowing that she had to have some power of some kind. Especially after she tried to take me down a few days ago, I'm still not sure what that was all about.

"It is more of a skill than a move, like sprint or jump. Had no plan for stopping, should have thought that out a bit more." She said answering part of the question.

"But why?" I pushed for the answer.

"Why not? I heard you say that we were going downhill so I took a chance and here I am." She said with confidence in her voice.

"I think that you need to be more careful." I said. The light changed to green and Nathan continued down the road.

"I felt like I had my actions under control, besides who are you to tell me what to do? My owner?" She said.

"Well, I-I-oh… hehe uhhh…." English failed. I'm not her owner, I never filled out the paperwork.

:3

:\

"I'm going to take us in to the central business district. It is up ahead." Nathan said.

"Great, anyway, Christine, I think you should see the city." I looked down at her and she looked over at me.

"The city?" She asked.

"Come up here, take a look." I said.

"Up her-Hold on, dafuq? Ah!" It was hard to lift her up with my right arm. If I could put the weight on my left wrist without it feeling like a thousand knives I would have. I managed to get her half way off the floor, using my left arm to keep her from falling.

"Ok, no wait." Nathan said, he reached over and pushed the rest of her on to my lap. She took a seat once she was up here.

"This is it?" She asked. She was looking out the front window.

"Were going to the city, were not there yet." Nathan said.

"Well what did you expect?" I asked.

"Good point, I don't think that would be able to walk around freely in a place like this." She said, still looking out from the bottom of the window.

"Nathan, get over to the far left lane." I instructed.

"That's a turn lane." He flicked on the blinker and looked over his shoulder out the back windows. After seeing that most of the traffic was infront of us and there was no one behind us for at least 100 meters he moved over across the center lane and in to the turn lane. And the light was a green left arrow so he quickly made the turn on to 2nd Ave.

I started petting Christine on the head, she seemed to be quietly enjoying it. She kept looking around. Out the front window then out the side window and back again. That is when the Jolteon walked up between the seats. "So why are we going this way? Shouldn't we have stayed in the center of town?" Nathan asked as we got the next red light.

"I don't know. I just have a feeling that something good might be this way." I said. Something about this road seemed like a good idea. I could be wrong but we can just turn around and head back.

"Eon jo te on jolt on eon jo. Lteo, on eno on jol?" The Jolteon spoke up. The last part seemed to be a question given the tone it was spoken. Fortunately I had an interpreter.

"La gl e e laceo. Rob, where are we going?" She asked as the light turned green and we were on our way once again.

"Is that what she asked?" I wondered.

"Somewhat. Well, when she wasn't belittling my actions." She said. The Jolteon jumped up and put her front paws on the side of my chair.

"Te, eon lt jo eo eon ol j teo." She said. Christine looked at her.

"eo n eon la g." Christin said and it sounded like they both laughed a little and the Jolteon got down and sat down.

"We are looking for a place to eat. Since you can't go inside it will more of a 'to go' kind of thing." I said. That's when I saw it. "Dude! Nathan! A&W and Pizza Hut! Christine! Pizza Hut!"

"Uhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh." She said. Note to self: Do not shake the Glaceon again.

"Hey! Everyone! We're having pizza tonight!" I said to all the Pokemon in the back.

"You seriously need to calm down." Christine said. Nathan pulled in to the parking lot and looked for a place to park. He quickly found one in the middle of the lot. We parked between two cars. Nathan turned the van off and went to the back. I moved a bit and Christine decided to jump off my lap. I got up and went to the back to grab my heavy coat, by now Nathan had his coat on and was opening one of the side doors. All his Pokemon lining up to go outside.

"Hold on everyone, I'll be back." Nathan walked outside and shut the door.

They all looked at me. Not this shit again, I thought. They all started doing their own thing like they normally would. I guess they have finally gotten comfortable with having me around. Nathan returned a few minutes later. "I have some bad news, I can't let everyone out here. Too crowed of a place. Rob and I will return with food." He stated. It was true that now we are in a place that if Pokemon were to take a poo someone would care and get mad at us.

I started out the door, Nathan followed me "Christine, don't let anything explode." I think I keep saying that because I have hauled a few trailers where that has literally been the case. Like the time the cooling unit failed on a tanker of liquid nitrogen I was hauling, fastest repair job I ever did.

"I was thinking that we get two large pepperoni pizzas. One for the Pokemon and we can annihilate the other one." I said, it sounded like a good plan.

"A bit simple, but we are on a budget. Alright." He replied as we walked in to the eatery. The place was packed and it took us awhile to get our pizzas made to go. We split the bill right down the middle and paid for one pizza each. By now were getting the boxes and exiting the place.

"So I have a plan to get back at the little mind reader." I said. I have been thinking about it for a while.

"Well she has been really out of line lately, if you think you can get her back then I'll allow it. After all, she does have it coming. What are you planning on doing?" He asked.

"Now if I tell you then it could put things at risk of failing, she is a mind reader." I said as we walked across the parking lot.

"How do you know that she doesn't already know that you are planning revenge?" He brought up a good point. I may need to revise my strategy. We made it over to the van. "Alright, you take these and get them started eating, I'm going to head over to the A&W." I passed Nathan the pizza boxes and opened the door for him, after he was inside I shut the door and went on my way.

Now that I am away from there I can have a chance to think over my plan because seriously, fucking mind reader!

* * *

Is it just me or does Rob seem a bit mad?

Next update: Act:1 Part:3


	24. The Real Canadian

I got bored of revision and wrote the new chapter anyway.

* * *

The Real Canadian

January 20, 2000 4:27 pm

Christine

* * *

That was the most cheese I have ever ingested in one sitting, things might be a bit dreadful later. I looked around at everyone and they looked just as full as I am. We devoured that entire pizza in about 20 minutes. No one was really talking so I am wondering if some of them might be feeling a bit sick. Well at least none of us are throwing up, that's a good sign.

"Ok, I'm going to take it from here. Nathan you look like your about to pass out." Rob said as he sat in the driver seat. Nathan was back here with us, cleaning up the mess we made. Eating pizza was a bit strange at first. It was like trying to eat the floor. I guess that is the only way I can describe how flat it was. I had to put my paw under it to get it off the box and eat it from there. If I tried to pick up a piece in anyway it would fall apart and become a burning mess of molten cheese.

"I'll be back. I'm going to run these boxes out to the trash" Nathan already had his heavy coat on and was opening the door. He stepped out and closed the door. That's when I noticed Heather licking her front paw while looking a bit uneasy. I decided to investigate.

"What's wrong Heather? You don't look so good. Did you hurt you paw?" I asked. She looked up at me for a second.

"I think I burnt it while eating." She said.

"Hold on, let me see." Cassandra quickly walked over to take a look. She stared at Heathers paw. "Minor surface burn. It looks it might be hurting for a few days until it heals. Best to put some ointment on it." She said. She walked up to the front of the van where Rob was looking over the map. "Hey… guy. W-"

"Rob." I cut in.

"Hey, Rob. We need you. Heather has a burn." She said. Rob looked down.

"He's not going to understand you." I said while standing behind her.

"This seems important. Christine, can you please translate?" Rob asked.

"Heater burnt her paw, come here for a second." I said as Rob got up and followed us to the back.

"I don't know much about burns, when I get burnt badly I just clean it up and wrap it." Rob said as he knelt down in front of Heather. That's when Nathan walked back in. "Hey, man. She is hurt." Rob said.

"What?" Nathan started looking as well. "Umm… I think I have some spray for this in my bag." Nathan got up and went to his bag and started looking through it. "Shit… I don't think I have it with me." Nathan said as he was digging around in his bag.

"So what are you looking for?" Rob asked.

"It's a special spray that helps Pokemon recover from burns with less pain then it normally would. It also has some accelerators in it so a small burn like this might heal in five days and not a week." Nathan said. "Is there a store around here? I need to pick some up."

Rob made his way back to the driver seat and sat down. "I think there was a big store on the other block, like a Wal-Mart. We passed it on the way here." He said and then I heard the engine start up. Nathan went and sat in the other seat as we started to move.

"How bad does it hurt?" I asked Heather.

"It doesn't, it's numb for now. I guess I will be feeling it in a few hours." She said.

* * *

January 20, 2000 4:36 pm

Rob

* * *

Since no one parked in front of me I was able to put the gear in drive and pull out forward. I quickly found the back exit to the parking lot and made sure that no one was coming, I made a right turn on to the road.

"Nathan, look at the name of this place." The store had a rather strange name that reeked of Canadian pride.

"The Real Canadian Superstore. Sounds like a place to buy logs, maple syrup, and bacon." Nathan said with a laugh.

"I know, eh." I said as I made a left in to the parking lot. The place was somewhat packed so finding a spot was a little harder this time around. I found an empty spot not too far from the store and pulled in.

"I'll go in and put everything on my credit card, save your cash for the gas, these exchange rates are a bit wacky as it is." I said as I got up and went for my jacket.

"Alright, the stuff you are looking for is called Burn Heal. Get either Poke-care, Johnson & Johnson, or Banana Boat. Always avoid Great Value, the cheaper price may seem appealing but its garbage." Nathan pulled out his wallet and took out some cash. "Good point about the exchange rate. Here take this and get it properly exchanged. I feel like the last few places we have been to were trying to screw us over a bit." He handed me $200(USD) I pocked the money it was in the form of 20's.

"I'll see if they do currency swaps or if I can find a MAC machine or something." And with that I got out of the van and walked towards the store.

* * *

January 20, 2000 4:48 pm

Christine

* * *

It was almost completely dark outside. Nathan got out of his seat and walked over to the middle of the van and flicked on the overhead light. "Christine…" Nathan started. "Christine, if want to… go home. I can take you back with me." He went on.

"Hmm…. Thanks." Was about all I could manage to say. Nathan was sitting on the floor by now. He grabbed me and pulled me in to a hug.

"Get you paws off him, we saw him first." Dentyne said.

"Actually, it was seeing how happy Christine made Brian is what convinced me that adopting every one of you was a good idea." Nathan stated as he let go of me.

"Oh, yah, Brian. I think he was around the first time we met." Jenny said.

"He left later that month. And I moved on, and once more it's time for me to move on again. You know my brother and sister moved to the lower part of the United States a long time ago. Ever since they moved I have been hoping for a chance to see them again. I think I might finally get my wish." I said. I know this move is not a guarantee that I will see my siblings again so I am prepared to live my life without them. "Besides, Rob works in Alaska in the winter. Next time were up there I'll make sure we stop in and visit." That's when the door opened.

"I'm back, they didn't have any of the brands you mentioned. All they had was North Star products." Rob returned with a shopping bag. He reached in and pulled out a can of Burn Heal and handed it to Nathan.

"Ok, I hope this stuff works." He removed the top lid and sprayed the stuff on to Heather's paw. I got a good look at the label on the can it read 'North Star Burn Heal/ Graver Guérir.' Then it had a warning label that stated for Pokemon use only and just below it there was another one that was in a different language like before. I think it might be French, I'm not sure.

"That should do it, you should be feeling better in a few hours." Nathan got up and put the lid back on the can and stuffed it in his bag then shut off the light and went to the passenger seat. Rob already had the van started up.

"If I'm not mistaken I think there is a town not too far from here that has a nice motel. It's only a couple hours drive from here and I stayed there on the way up. It would to sleep in a bed tonight." Rob said as the van begun to move backwards.

"Yah I think we all could use a good sleep tonight." Nathan stated as he grabbed the map and started to look it over.

"Well that and I don't feel like driving the grave yard shift again tonight." Rob laughed at that last part.

"Isn't that part of your job?" Nathan asked.

"Only when I'm getting paid." They both are laughing now.

That was about the extent of that joke so I decided that I would go lay down now. "Move over a bit." I said to Lily. I don't know why but she always seems to take up a lot of unnecessary space. She moved a bit and I sat in between her and Heather then put my head down.

"You know what I hate most about the dark? I can't see where I'm going." Dentyne stated.

"I can just let off small sparks and it gives me enough light to get a general idea of where I'm going." Jenny said from somewhere behind me.

"I bet Christine knows what I'm sayin." Dentyne went on.


End file.
